Warm Welcomes, Lurking Tensions

The response to those displaced by the ongoing conflict in Ukraine has been a hugely positive one. Some even say there has been more expressed and enacted sympathy in the West towards refugees from Ukraine than any other large-scale displacement crisis since the Second World War. Communities in major refugee hosting countries like Poland, Romania and Moldova, who have seen a combined total of over 5.7 million refugees cross over their borders already, have shown an incredible level of hospitality to people from Ukraine.

In comparison with other large-scale refugee crises, such as Syria, the Rohingya, Venezuela, Somalia, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and many others, this too follows a similar pattern. In the initial phases of any refugee crisis, host communities are usually welcoming, yet tensions can and inevitably do arise and relations often deteriorate.