UKRAINE: AN UNHEATED ARMY HOSTEL HAS BECOME HOME TO HUNDREDS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

Record ID: 640761

  • Title: UKRAINE: AN UNHEATED ARMY HOSTEL HAS BECOME HOME TO HUNDREDS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
  • Date: 20th November 2002
  • Summary: LAS MAN IN BUNK BED; MV DETAINEE FROM IRAQ PLAYING ON SELF-MADE INSTRUMENT; MV DETAINEES LISTENING TO MUSIC, CRYING; SCU MUSICIAN (6 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 5th December 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MUKACHEVO AND ZHITOMYR, UKRAINE
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Topics: General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAE41D4U1LUXC43RYL2MH188C2A
  • Story Text: An unheated former Ukrainian army hostel has become home to hundreds of illegal migrants, mostly from Asia and the Middle-East, who tried but failed to reach the capital cities of western Europe.
    Thousands of would-be immigrants from Iraq, Afghanistan, India, China, Somalia and Chechnya have begun to choose the "easy" route, through Ukraine's Carpathian mountains to Slovakia or Hungary and on to western Europe.
    But for many of them, the dream of a better life in western Europe has ended with arrest and detention in Ukraine.
    Many migrants, paying out thousands of dollars, are duped by their smugglers into thinking Ukraine is Slovakia or Hungary - candidates for European Union membership and therefore seen as a smoother route to the west.
    Others are simply dumped in a Ukrainian forest and end up in Mukachevo, a small town a few dozen miles (km) from the border with Slovakia, Hungary, Poland and Romania.
    In Mukachevo, barbed wire coils around the tops of tall walls of the former Ukrainian army hostel. Soldiers walk dogs along the periphery and sometimes inside the compound.
    Orange-tinted water from an old tank drips into bottles and buckets, for washing and drinking. The outdoor toilets are dubbed the "ski slope".
    For those in the camp, hunger has become commonplace.
    Shouting the Russian words "khorosho" (good) and "plokho"

    (bad), the inmates summed up what they thought of the camp that has become their home.
    "Plokho!" they shouted almost in unison as they pointed to the metal pail of buckwheat porridge in the makeshift outdoor kitchen. As the tap opened on the water tank, again the chorus shouted: "Plokho."
    But another word, "kholodno" or cold, is starting to worry them even more.
    Temperatures in Ukraine are plunging and the snow is coming with the onset of five months of winter.
    An Afghan man stands in his leather sandals and cotton trousers and tunic. A blanket is thrown around his shoulders.
    With the authorities able to spare about 1 United States dollar a day for each prisoner, life is certain to get worse.
    "No good food, cold water. Very cold, you cannot sleep,"
    said Nidal Sa-ad from Lebanon.
    "It's Ramadan for Muslims...and we want to be with our families," he added.
    Earlier this year, 200 rioted at the hostel, demanding to be allowed to travel the 800 km (500 miles) to capital Kiev to speak to their embassies.
    Perched on the edge of what will soon be European Union territory, Ukraine looks set to become a crossroad's for many hoping to escape poverty and conflict. Most come from Asia.
    It is not a role Ukrainian officials relish.
    "Perhaps we are catching more illegal immigrants because it is getting colder and we have more snow, so they are coming down from the mountains into the valley (to try and cross the borders)," said Eduard Steblyuk, a spokesman for Ukraine's border guards.
    He said Ukraine was learning to deal with the problem, but a shortage of financing and ineffective immigration laws mean that many left in the camp face waits of more than three months while officials work out what to do with them.
    Most of the men would thankfully go home, but for dozens of women, housed in an apartment block near the railway, life is a little better.
    "Somalia is my country, but I am here because I want to have a good life. In Somalia there is not a good life, there is war," said 22-year-old Anisa, pleased that she had someone to speak to. She speaks no Russian or Ukrainian, and her guards speak no English or Somali.
    It cost her more than 1,000 USD for the journey "by car, by plane and on foot" to try and get to England. It all ended suddenly in Ukraine.
    Back in the men's quarter of the detention centre, refugees whiled away their time sleeping or playing games on home made game boards.
    Nawzad Darwish Ahmad, a Kurd from Iraq, explained how he, like hundreds of others before him, left his country.
    "We have problems in Iraq," Ahmad said, through the camp's translator - a Somali addressed as 'captain Sayid' by fellow inmates because of his organisational abilities.
    Ahmad then burst into tears as his friend strummed a makeshift guitar made from a wooden box and a plank with wires twisted round nails.
    Sitting on his bunk bed, Ahmad sobbed. The music from home reminded him of the wife and children he left behind for a better life in Europe.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: Audio restrictions: This clip's Audio includes copyrighted material. User is responsible for obtaining additional clearances before publishing the audio contained in this clip.
Register