Will the welcome ever run dry?

Interrogating the hierachy of human categories - The case of Ukrainian refugees in Europe

Abstract

This review summarises and chronicles inputs from several speakers who attended a conference titled: Will the Welcome ever Run Dry?: Interrogating the Hierarchy of Human Categories – The Case of Ukrainian Refugees in Europe. The conference interrogated the refugee crisis which had been precipitated by Russia’s unprovoked war against Ukraine. It was organised by Tanja Kleibl, Melinda Madew, Minenhle Matela, Ronald Lutz and Ndangwa Noyoo and held at the University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt on 17 March 2022. The conference participants were social work academics, practitioners, students and activists, and it was delivered in a blended mode. Crucially, it was meant to be a call to action to the social work profession around the world, especially in Europe. Also, the organisers wanted to cast a sharp light on the refugee crisis from a social work perspective and highlight the discrimination which was associated with this phenomenon. Indeed, media reports and other accounts had identified this disturbing trend, whereby African and non-European students from developing countries, who were equally fleeing the war zone with Ukrainians, were ill-treated and discriminated against by Ukrainian and Polish security forces. These officials allegedly allowed only Ukrainians and European-looking people to cross the border (Chebil, 2022; Pronczuk et al., 2022).