Refugees FAQ and Mythbusting
Why don’t asylum seekers just seek refuge in a nearby country rather than travel to richer countries like the UK?
People usually do! 69% of refugees are hosted in neighbouring countries and 74% in low/middle income countries. A variety of factors may push the minority of asylum seekers further afield to countries like the UK and western Europe including local contacts, language familiarity, and colonial ties.
Why does it seem to be just young men that seek asylum in the UK?
Firstly, 43% of asylum seekers are women and children, whilst there is a small majority of men, this is greatly exaggerated. Secondly, the reason more men are seen crossing the channel is that such dangerous routes are usually first attempted by men and later joined by their families through official routes.
Aren’t many so-called asylum seekers simply economic migrants?
The vast majority of asylum applications in the UK are accepted in the initial decision (76% in 2022), thus demonstrating the majority of refugees in the UK hold a valid claim for refugee protection subject to a stringent criteria deeming they “must be unable to live safely in any part of their own country because they fear persecution there.
If their claims are valid, why don’t asylum seekers go through the proper channels and safe routes?
These ‘safe routes’ are increasingly limited and largely available to only 3 nationalities (Ukraine, Afghanistan, Hong Kong) unless a very specific criteria is met to get selected for a limited space. Even within these existing schemes, their implementation is often poor, for example the UK Resettlement Scheme, which began in 2021, is still yet to resettle half the amount of people they pledged for the first year! Even for the nationalities with their own UK scheme, there are huge failures to deliver safe routes, only 234 Afghans arrived in 2023 through the Afghan Citizens Resettlment Scheme, leaving almost 9000 Afghans forced to cross the channel over the same period.
What do politicians and the media mean by calling to ‘Stop the boats/ Smash the gangs’?
They really mean we should ignore calls for safe, legal routes and force people into dangerous small boat crossings.
Both of these slogans aim to simplify the topic of refugees and asylum seekers into a ‘tough’ soundbite, allowing politicians to focus purely on small boat crossings and their deterrence, as reflected in the Government's policy approach consisting of heightened attempts to “militarise and police border zones” across the channel. In doing so however, this allows political parties to avoid discussing the root causes of the recent increases in small boat crossings, namely the increased restrictions to safe, legitimate routes to asylum, in a political race to the bottom in the protection of asylum seekers. For example in 2022, 8,000 Afghans were forced to cross the channel in small boats whilst only 22 entered the UK through a legitimate resettlement scheme. Conversely, 200,000 Ukranian’s were permitted to enter the UK, leaving none forced to resort to small boat crossings.
Ultimately, restricting political discourse to stopping boats and smashing gangs, with no mention of expanding safe routes, will ensure that vulnerable asylum seekers and their children continue to die making this treacherous journey.
What should we be discussing instead of ‘Stop the boats’?
Safe routes! Discussions and narratives should instead highlight that the best way to prevent dangerous small boat crossings would be to provide safe, alternative routes for asylum seekers.
What does ‘Refugee/migrant crisis’ mean?
Mainstream media and political parties often refer to refugee and asylum seeker issues as part of a broader ‘migrant crisis’ in Europe and the UK. Whilst of course the deaths of asylum seekers drowning in the channel and mediterranean constitute a crisis in their own right, this term is usually reserved for referring to the numbers of migrants and asylum seekers arriving and the impact this may have on European nations and the UK. For example, the ‘Europe migrant crisis’ page on the BBC News website primarily consists of reports of small boat crossings, highlighting ‘record numbers’ with little critical analysis for the reasons behind these record numbers, namely the reductions in safe routes for asylum seekers.
The term ‘crisis’ instead serves to further demonise asylum seekers increasingly as a threat to the UK economically, despite positive forecasts by the Office for Budget Responsibility that increased immigration will help alleviate pressure on Government debts in the long term,
What should the term ‘Refugee/migrant crisis’ mean?
The term ‘crisis’ should instead be deployed in relation to the crises faced by asylum seekers forced to undergo treacherous journeys, shifting narratives instead to how we as nations can best support those fleeing from war, persecution and other danger.
Is it true that ‘many asylum seekers are illegal migrants’?
Harmful policies against asylum seekers have consistently been legitimised by referring to the individuals concerned as Illegal migrants, with little consideration of the lack of legal routes to asylum in the UK forcing those seeking sanctuary to resort to dangerous, ‘illegal’, routes such as small boat crossings. This increased criminalisation of asylum seekers, used to justify harmful policies, was further evidenced in videos published by the Home office showing armed immigration officers arresting individuals for deportation to Rwanda as part of the new deportation policy for ‘illegal’ asylum seekers. The publication of such footage serves to reinforce the idea that asylum seekers are criminals, and thus that the repressive Rwanda policy, beset by formal challenges over its own legality, is therefore justified.
What is the alternative to the criminalisation of asylum seekers?
In order to combat the criminalisation of asylum seekers, we should focus instead on the United Nation’s principle of underpinning refugee protections as part of the human right to seek asylum without fear of further persecution.
Do asylum seekers place a burden on UK taxpayers?
Although politicians and the media claim often this is the case, the reality is that currently asylum seekers are prevented from working. They are attacked for their dependence on the state, all whilst ignoring the economic contributions of refugees.
Both major political parties have emphasised the economic ‘burden’ of supporting asylum seekers with little acknowledgment of A) their forced inability to work and B) the unnecessarily expensive temporary accommodation used to house asylum seekers due to the lack of proper dispersal accommodation. That is to say, asylum seekers are only allowed to apply for work if their application has taken over 12 months, within this year-long period they have no right to work and thus are forced to rely on support from the state. This contributes to the unfair demonisation of asylum seekers as an economic ‘burden’, despite the fact that although our primary responsibility to support refugees is a moral one, research from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research suggests that lifting the work ban on asylum seekers would “increase tax revenue by £1.3 billion, reduce Government expenditure by £6.7 billion, increase GDP by £1.6 billion, and improve the wellbeing of those individuals.”
One crucial way to shift discourses around asylum seekers is to join campaigns to ‘lift the ban’ on work for asylum seekers, allowing them financial independence and helping them feel more integrated within local communities.
What would a fair and humane asylum system look like?
The research has been done and we actually know what this would look like and how it could be achieved. The Commission on the Integration of Refugees published a report in March 2024 setting out 16 steps to achieving a comprehensive overhaul of the asylum system to achieve better outcomes for refugees and the UK as a whole.
You can join the Refugee Council’s campaign to implement these actions and to achieve a fair and humane asylum system. They have condensed the actions to 6 immediate steps that could be taken, as set out on their website:
► Give refugees and people seeking asylum a fair hearing in the UK, no matter how they arrive, in keeping with commitments to international law.
► Pilot refugee visas which people seeking asylum could apply for at embassies and other official sites around the world, to enable safe routes to the UK.
► Make it easier for families separated by war and violence to reunite by expanding existing schemes, including by letting separated refugee children be joined by their closest family members.
► Expand the UK’s resettlement schemes, establishing a target for those resettled under a single scheme and ensuring people are appropriately housed in the community with support to integrate. The UK should also flexibly respond to global emergencies and provide protection through emergency visa schemes and expanded family reunion routes.
► Reduce the backlog of people waiting for a decision on their asylum claim.
► Collaborate with the French Government and other EU countries to make it safer for people to seek protection across the continent and to further crack down on people smugglers.
Does Cheltenham Welcomes Refugees (CWR) only support Syrian refugees?
CWR supports and welcomes all refugees. The organisation was born from a Citizen’s UK training programme which prepares volunteers who want to lobby their local council to consider resettling more refugees, and gives them the tools to create a local welcome group. The training was particularly focused on the Syrian crisis in 2015 and the need for the UK to accept more Syrian refugees. Therefore, most of the work of CWR was been focused on Syrian refugees when CWR began, but we have supported any and all refugee families in the area as resettlement schemes have expanded, and we welcomed asylum seekers to Cheltenham when the Home Office began accommodating asylum seekers here.
Where is the money coming from to fund the resettlement of Syrians?
The funds come from the Overseas Aid Budget through the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Programme (SVPRP). SVPRP is a government programme that aimed to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees from refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt and Turkey from September 2015 to May 2020.
More facts about Syrian refugee resettlement can be found here and here.
Are refugees allowed to work?
People who have been granted refugee status have permission to work and access public funds. However, the UK is taking ‘vulnerable people’ whom the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) has deemed to be in urgent need of resettlement. This means that some people will have difficulties working due to various factors such as ill health. Language is also a barrier to getting a job for many refugees who find themselves in the UK.
Asylum seekers (displaced people seeking refugee status) aren’t allowed to work or study, even though the asylum process can take many years to process. This is a dehumanising and cruel way to treat people, who often deeply struggle with being unable to plan or provide for a meaningful future. If you’d like to get involved in changing this, Right To Remain are campaigning on this issue.
Who chooses which families come, and how do they choose?
The UNHCR identifies families who meet the criteria which the Home Office has specified and liaises with the Home Office to carry out vetting checks. When housing becomes available somewhere, refugees are chosen from camps in the Middle East to come to the UK.
Isn’t there a shortage of housing in Britain?
No, there is a shortage of affordable housing in the UK. A report by the charity Shelter states:
There are more than 630,000 empty homes in England. 216,050 of these have been vacant for more than 6 months. The issue is affordable housing.
Is Cheltenham Welcomes Refugees a registered charity?
CWR have been working until 2021 as a constituted organisation of volunteers, but are now a charity! We will continue to run our operations on a shoestring and with volunteers for the moment, but we’re still adjusting to new processes and to working with a board of trustees to keep us accountable, so we’ll have to see what the future holds while also continuing to make sure families and individuals are supported in the way they most need.
How can I donate to Cheltenham Welcomes Refugees?
Donations towards our work make a massive difference - whether it’s helping to organise a day out to the seaside for families to play and relax while recovering from trauma, or making sure that kids have properly-fitting school shoes, your help is greatly appreciated.
However, funding is only one element of the difference you can make, and if you can help in everyday circumstances to discuss and raise awareness of refugee issues with your friends, family and community, it is very significant in terms of impact. There is a great deal of misinformation and prejudice about people coming to the UK to seek help after abuse from their own governments, and we believe it’s our obligation as decent people to provide that help.
We also recommend donating to GARAS (Gloucestershire Action for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), who oversee the legal resettlement process throughout Gloucestershire. They’re the first port of call for other refugees and asylum seekers in Gloucestershire.