Thread by @BestForBritain

Priti Patel has been demonising refugees again, saying 70% of those reaching the UK in small boats are single men and ‘economic migrants’ - in other words, she claims they are not ‘genuine’ asylum seekers. Here’s why she’s plain wrong 🧵👇1/
theguardian.com/politics/2021/…

First of all, Priti Patel’s stats on asylum seekers aren’t quite accurate. In 2020, 57% of asylum seekers in the UK were men, 21% were women and 15% were children - with a further 5% of asylum seekers being unaccompanied minors. 2/
asylumineurope.org/reports/countr…

It is nevertheless true that the majority of asylum seekers in the UK are men. We want to explore why this is the case - and why so many of our politicians and media outlets deliberately weaponise this fact. 3/

UNHCR statistics show that women and girls make up around 50% of total refugee, stateless or internally displaced populations worldwide, despite the fact that the majority of asylum seekers reaching Europe are men. 4/
unhcr.org/uk/women.html

However, in countries like Lebanon - which has a huge refugee population largely from Syria - more than 50% of refugees are women and girls. 5/
nrc.no/globalassets/p…

The fact that more men than women seek asylum in Europe is because the journey is known to be so perilous that men will make it alone in the hope of reaching safety, and then will apply to bring children and female relatives over. 6/
nationalreview.com/2015/10/why-eu…

There are also issues with conscription in countries like Syria, where young men will be forcibly taken off the streets by the army and made to fight.

Imprisonment in horrific conditions awaits those who refuse. 7/
aljazeera.com/features/2016/…

Another reason women seeking refuge are less likely to reach Europe than men is that they are more at risk of dying on the way - with women far more likely to drown in shipwrecks than men. 8/
newsfeed.time.com/2012/08/01/sin…

On the journey to Europe, women refugees are also exposed to high levels of sexual and physical violence - something that makes women less likely to make the journey in the first place. 9/
redcross.org.uk/about-us/what-…

There are many clear reasons why more men seeking asylum reach the UK than women - a key one being the dangers of the journey. The UK is partly responsible for this state of affairs. 10/

The UK has seen a surge in small boat crossings for asylum seekers, but a fall in overall asylum applications.

Why? Because the UK has closed off many safe routes of passage - so those fleeing often believe these dangerous routes are the only option. 11/

https://twitter.com/matt_dathan/status/1455665414936072208

The UK also closes off many opportunities for young men making it here to reunite with relatives from their home countries. Unaccompanied minors, the majority of whom are adolescent men, have no rights with regards to bringing family members over. 12/
commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-brief…

The hysteria about the majority of asylum seekers being men stems from prejudice and attempts to present refugee men as a threat to social harmony. This is despite the fact that the UK itself is responsible for the gender imbalance it is seeing. 13/

No man, woman or child who makes the perilous journey of a refugee to Britain is ‘just’ an economic migrant, whatever that means. 14/
habitatforhumanity.org.uk/blog/2016/09/r…

Refugees flee genuine horrors - and they wouldn’t be making such dangerous and difficult journeys to get to the UK if this wasn’t the case. 15/

Today, Little Amal is reaching the end of her journey to Britain in Manchester. Little Amal is a puppet representing a nine year old refugee girl who has travelled from Syria to the UK.

Here she is making her journey through the streets of Britain yesterday. 16/

But as many have pointed out, Little Amal would not be able to reach the UK were she a real child. 17/

https://twitter.com/refugeenetworkj/status/1455224583976534017

The plight of real children, women and men who take so many risks to come here is being ignored by our Government as part of a manipulative narrative about refugees and immigration.

We must fight this dangerous narrative wherever it emerges. #RefugeesWelcome /ENDS