7 | PROTECTING STATELESS PERSONS FROM ARBITRARY DETENTION IN UKRAINE Mohammad Gazrat is a 25-year-old man from Afghanistan who was brought to Ukraine by smugglers en route to the EU. In November 2014, he was apprehended for attempting to illegally cross the border and detained for a year. After being released, Mohammad managed to pass all governmental procedures and obtained a temporary residence permit. It was not easy to start a new life after detention as he could not work or receive money transferred by his relatives. Due to the hardships he faced, Mohammad again tried to leave the country illegally. His residence permit was annulled and at the time of publication he was again in detention. Abigail Akintola was born in Nigeria 21 years ago. Her family is Muslim and Abigail is Christian. Religion divided them severely. Abigail arrived in Ukraine on a student visa, however she did not sign a contract with her university as the fees were expensive and she felt the facilities she received were poor. She was detained at the European Union (EU) border when she attempted to cross over with an alleged emergency travel document from Belgium that contained false information about her date of birth. Both the Nigerian and Belgian Embassies in Ukraine did not confirm Abigail’s identity upon request of the Ukrainian authorities. At the time of publication, she was detained in a Migrant Detention Centre (MDC), after which she hopes she will obtain a temporary residence permit. Sahill Abdulla from Afghanistan arrived in Ukraine in 2014 when he was 22 years old. He managed to irregularly cross the border to Slovakia in a group and requested asylum. Slovak border guards however, only admitted the families with children. Single men, including Sahil, were readmitted to Ukraine and immediately placed in detention. After one year in immigration detention, Sahill was released as he could not be removed to Afghanistan as he lacked the necessary travel documentation. Upon release, Ukrainian authorities provided him with a temporary residence permit. This document entitled him to remain in Ukraine legally but “was not sufficient to arrange a normal life in Ukraine”. It did not give Sahill the right to work or engage in any other gainful activity, nor did it give access to welfare services or medical aid. Sahill was unable to find any informal employment to provide for himself and after some time he dared once more to attempt to cross the border into the EU – again without success. Upon readmission he was automatically subjected to fresh removal proceedings and placed in immigration detention. At the time of publication, he was serving his second term of immigration detention and has lost any hope in law, in humanity and in justice.