Harmful rhetoric criminalising asylum seekers needs to go, in both public discourse and government policy
Recent reports about asylum seekers mistreated in UK military barracks have sparked a much-needed conversation about the way we treat asylum seekers. While pressure from campaign groups, NGO’s and asylum seekers has forced the Home Office to move the majority of residents out of barracks, the harmful rhetoric of criminalising asylum seekers remains.
"If ‘these people’ are behind tall fences, concrete walls and heightened security, they must be prisoners, right?"
And this damaging rhetoric spreads quickly to public perception. If ‘these people’ are behind tall fences, concrete walls, and heightened security, they must be prisoners, right?
Subject to inhumane accommodation conditions, interrogation, and very little government support, the second asylum seekers begin their protection claim they are treated as if they have committed a crime.
These are the conditions in Folkestone's Napier Barracks, sent by an asylum seeker who previously lived there.
And this is echoed outside of the UK. Reports of asylum-seekers being detained, abused, and mistreated are widespread across Europe. Police presence, violent evictions, and brutality are commonplace in Calais, and in Lesvos, barbed wire fences and security guards surround refugee camps.
The consequences of this are catastrophic, with visuals of prison-like institutions and security fuelling the anti-immigration fire that has spread not only to public perception, but also government policy.
Earlier this month, Home Secretary Priti Patel revealed plans to crackdown on ‘people smugglers’ involved in English Channel crossings with threats of life imprisonment. But the move is predominantly demonising asylum seekers responsible for nothing more than steering dinghies. Seemingly just another excuse to point the finger at those seeking safety, something the government and the Home Office seem desperate to do to justify their misdoings.
While there is much to be done to curb the spread of racism, xenophobia, and discrimination, one thing that needs to be done is to portray asylum seekers as what they really are. They are people, like you and I, who have been forced to leave situations many of us cannot even imagine.
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