WHEN serious international conflict breaks out, it is quite customary to hear widespread calls for peace and fair treatment of refugees. 

However, we have grown used to these calls being widely ignored over the last three decades of wars. That has certainly been the case in just the earliest days of the Ukraine crisis.

In fact one of the worst aspects has been the response to the refugee crisis. This has numerous features. 

The first is that the government is yet to offer any terms for refugees fleeing Ukraine that could in any way be described as generous. Like everyone who is forced to leave their home, the plight of refugees fleeing the Ukraine crisis is a desperate one. 

The Home Secretary falsely claims that special provisions have been made when there are no significant provisions for Ukrainians at all.  

Of course, this highlights a systemic problem with the response to refugees as a whole, a system which is not fit for purpose. 

Given the harsh conditions of the new Nationality and Borders Bill it is possible now that government policy may not even comply with international law. It may well be tested in the courts, including the international courts.

Other countries much poorer than Britain have offered effectively an open door to refugees from Ukraine. This ought to be the standard response in all such conflicts.

But far less praiseworthy has been the treatment of black and other ethnic minority people trying to flee Ukraine, so harsh that the Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has publicly complained about the treatment of Africans trying to flee, as has the UNHCR. 

This is something that cannot and must not be swept under the carpet because it is an inconvenient truth.

This is in line with the treatment of migrants long before the Ukraine conflict. It is a right in international law for people to seek asylum. 

There is therefore no such thing as an “illegal asylum-seeker.” It is the denial of people’s right to seek asylum that is illegal.

But that has not stopped this country and countries all across Europe from denying those rights. For example, it is reported that 19 people have died in the forests on the border between Belarus and Poland. 

They have effectively frozen and starved to death as they attempted to enter Poland. These people are asylum-seekers, mainly from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. 

In addition, it is sporadically reported that there is a huge disparity between the treatment of Ukrainian refugees and those from western and central Asia, as well as African people who are forced to flee.

This is evident at the train stations in Ukraine, where we have seen horrific footage of people being barred or even thrown off trains because of their skin colour. It also applies at many of the border crossings in eastern European countries.

One report states there are Yazidi families, who bravely fought against Isis, being forced to live in tents at the Polish border in freezing temperatures. They have also been targeted by bands of Polish nationalist gangs, chanting “go home.” 

It is worth restating that all of this, the denial of asylum-seeker rights, is illegal under international law. It is also clear that this is not accidental, the product of a few bad elements in the border guards. It is official policy.

One of the worst expressions of this was a recent interview on the Today programme featuring Josep Borrell, who is the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy. The entire interview was angry in tone, as if he did not expect to be questioned at all. 

Disgracefully, he drew a distinction between “migrants” who are being blocked at the border, and the Ukrainians fleeing the conflict, who he said were “exiles.” This is pure sophistry acting as an excuse for blatant racism.

The situation in this country is different. The government is treating all those fleeing desperate situations in completely inhumane ways. 

The government even boasts of it. Unlike most other countries, even rights to family reunion are limited, so that children 18 years old and over cannot be reunited with their families, as they are no longer deemed to be “immediate family” members.

The latest innovation is the sponsorship of refugees by private groups and individuals, the outsourcing of basic humanity. I look forward to Tory MPs making the first move. Perhaps they could use the funds they received from the Russian oligarchs to pay for the sponsorships.

This and other issues arising from the conflict are urgent. Even if a short-term resolution of the crisis is achievable, there are sure to be long-term and important consequences. These are not confined to the theatre of conflict, however awful these may be.

In this country and in many others, consumer prices for ordinary people will go even higher. Oil has already hit over $110 per barrel which will have a knock-on effect on the price of all transported goods. 

This is at a time when millions of households are struggling with falling pay in real terms along with government austerity.

There will also be calls for increased military spending, possibly as early as the next Budget. They should be resisted. The population is already suffering a cost-of-living crisis. 

Any increased military spending is sure to be matched by further public spending cuts, either to services or to social security entitlements, or both. 

Increased defence spending here would not make any difference to conflicts such as the one in Ukraine, and would just endanger us all. 

The consequence would also lead to a further erosion of living standards. The people of this country do not want and do not need more belligerence. They want to treat people decently, and they cannot afford a prolonged conflict.

Diane Abbott is Labour MP for Hackey North and Stoke Newington. She served as shadow home secretary from 2016 to 2020.