Thread by @stand_for_all

THREAD: One of the main arguments which the UK uses for avoiding taking refugees is that they can seek asylum in "safe countries" before they arrive in Britain. That fact that "first safe country" doesn't actually exist in law is irrelevant. 1/

That is why it is so important not only to highlight the failures of the UK to provide protection, but also the risks posed to many asylum seekers in other countries, such as France and across the EU. 2/
hrw.org/world-report/2…

The EU's response to Ukrainian refugees has been astounding, and a direct contrast to the utter shambles which has been the UK's, but this really does highlight the unequal treatment of refugees within the EU as much as anything else. 3/

Just recently we witnessed asylum seekers being forced back across the Polish/Belarusian border and left to freeze to death due to EU wide polices designed to maintain what is referred to as "Fortress Europe". 4/
theguardian.com/global-develop…

We have previously seen asylum seekers returned to EU funded camps in Libya where they are tortured, sold into slavery or murdered. A practice which was well known about within the EU, and yet people were still sent back. 5/
theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/n…

At least 2,000 people have died as a result of EU countries conducting "pushback" operations to prevent asylum seekers being able to reach safety, operations which are a fundamental violation of international law. 6/
theguardian.com/global-develop…

Even now while the EU is showing compassion and security to many of those feeling the war in Ukraine, racist policies which have become embedded are still on display with the way in which different groups of refugees are treated. 7/
joe.co.uk/news/refugee-c…

None of this diminishes the EU's response towards Ukrainian refugees. It does show that the ability to provide support and safety to refugees in general has always been there though, and just not used. 8/

To ignore that there are serious issues which need addressing in the EU's general, and decades old, approach to refugees just gives fuel to the UK's argument that it doesn't need to take asylum seekers, "because they have come through safe countries." That benefits no-one. 9/