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Daniel Sohege 🧡 Profile picture
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Mar 6 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
Thread: That's a mighty fine semantic argument between "turning someone back" and "not allowing them in". It's a distinction which is lost on those being denied access to the UK asylum system I would imagine. 1/
If the government successfully passes its #NationalityAndBordersBill then any Ukrainian refugee who crossed the channel without a visa would risk being criminalised and deported, along with all others seeking asylum. 2/
When people are fleeing a conflict though they, fairly obviously, rarely have time to fill in all the paperwork needed for a visa. Even if, as with many Ukrainian refugees, they make it to a country where an application can be processed...3/
how many of us at the best of times could support ourselves in a foreign country for four plus weeks, plus additional costs of obtaining visas? How about if you have just picked up what you can and fled an active conflict with your family? 4/
Then you have situations like this. A mother, legally working in UK. A trafficking survivor with an active asylum application denied re-entry to the UK with her eight year old daughter because of the visa requirements Patel claims are helping refugees. 5/ thetimes.co.uk/article/9e5674…
And what's the outcome of @pritipatel's welcoming approach to Ukrainian refugees, which in no way denies them the ability to seek asylum? 50! 50 people granted these generous visas. It would be a bad enough joke if it wasn't people lives in the balance. 6/
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-606404…

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Daniel Sohege 🧡 Profile picture
Mar 7
THREAD: There is a persistent narrative that the UK has always had a "welcoming attitude to #refugees". There's a problem with this though, it is a nostalgic myth. In reality there are few differences in the way the UK acts now, and how it did in the past. Little of it good. 1/
It generally seems to be accepted that by the outbreak of World War two the UK had taken approximately 70,000 Jewish refugees, which sounds a lot until you realise that it is estimated that they rejected about half a million. 2/
theguardian.com/uk/2002/jun/08…
Overall it's estimated about 80,000 people were offered refuge in UK, including nearly 10,000 through the Kinderstransport. Good huh. Well there were approximately 60 million displaced people, including 12 million Germans, so not brilliant to be honest 3/
gale.com/intl/essays/ra…
Read 17 tweets
Daniel Sohege 🧡 Profile picture
Mar 7
Before anyone gets too optimistic about this, Patel plays semantics. Just look at the language for one thing. "Look at", "investigating". That's a far cry from doing anything. "Ten thousand applications" doesn't mean "granted ten thousand visas". #r4today

thetimes.co.uk/article/48c663… ImageImageImageImage
Aaaand there we have it. The UK is far too focused on denying refugees safety, for example the #NationalityAndBordersBill being pushed through at the moment would criminalise Ukrainian refugees. It was highly unlikely it would genuinely do something to help. 2/ #r4today ImageImage
It is hardly shocking given Patel's, and the UK government as a whole's, track record that they aren't actually talking about providing support for refugees, and instead are just alluding to one of the already woefully poor routes they have created. 3/

Read 5 tweets
Daniel Sohege 🧡 Profile picture
Feb 28
With the #AntiRefugeeBill now being debated in the @UKHouseofLords it's worth re-upping this thread. The #BordersBill does nothing to make the asylum system "fairer". It denies refugees their guaranteed rights under international law. It will only make things worse.
There is no question that the #NationalityAndBordersBill violates multiple international laws. This isn't just about abstract elements of law though. It is about humanity. This bill will criminalise some of the most vulnerable people in the world.
We are seeing the need for UK to provide asylum to Ukrainian citizens right now, and UK failing at this. This isn't new though. Syrians, Iraqis, Afghans, Eritreans, Yemenis, etc etc, people just trying to find a place they feel safe having lost everything, will be criminalised.
Read 5 tweets
Daniel Sohege 🧡 Profile picture
Feb 27
THREAD: With so much going on, partly to do with #Ukraine, but also related to the #NationalityandBordersBill, and no small amount of confusion and misinformation, I thought it may be helpful to do a thread explaining some bits and bobs. 1/
First off, the primary piece of legislation in international law governing refugee rights the the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, and it is fairly clear a refugee may not be penalised for their manner of entry into a state. 2/
unhcr.org/uk/3b66c2aa10
In essence this means someone seeking asylum doesn't need a visa for the country they seek it in. Obviously things aren't so clear cut. Visas make it a lot easier to reach a country in the first place for one thing. Problem is they are hard to get when fleeing for your life. 3/
Read 19 tweets
Daniel Sohege 🧡 Profile picture
Feb 26
Changes to existing visa schemes are important, but until UK stops using variations of the "first safe country" myth to avoid accepting refugees', and starts providing ways for Ukrainians to reach it and seek asylum, they are still scratching the surface of what needs to be done.
Right now the government is pushing the #NationalityandBordersBill, which sets out plans to see refugees criminalised, sent to offshore facilities, denied rights and assistance and potentially even returned to countries'. This would happen to Ukrainian citizens fleeing this war.
Does anyone really think that those fleeing the Russian invasion aren't "genuine refugees"? Yet this is the reality of what the UK proposes. A fundamental violation of international law and a denial of rights to vulnerable people seeking asylum.
Read 5 tweets
Daniel Sohege 🧡 Profile picture
Feb 24
Thread: What we are most likely seeing at the moment is a "re-equilibrium" after the drop in asylum applications caused by limitations created by the pandemic, such as global border closures. 1/

theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/f…
Two things here though, this is the first time these statistics have been published, that means you can't really measure them against anything meaningful, and people seeking safety isn't really something which should be criticised here, I'd argue. 2/
gov.uk/government/sta… Image
Context is kind of important when looking at figures like this, so words like "just" and "only" are singularly unhelpful. You need to look at the wider picture. 3/ ImageImage
Read 8 tweets

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