Thread by @docrussjackson

#THREAD

More than 830 UK health professionals & representatives from leading medical bodies have signed an open letter to Sunak expressing “grave concerns” that the Govt’s #Rwanda Plan will cause “catastrophic mental & physical harm” to people seeking safety.

PLEASE READ IT:

"As health professionals, we, the undersigned, are writing to express our grave concerns about the health implications of ongoing plans to forcibly remove individuals seeking protection in the UK to Rwanda, as set out in the ‘Migration & Economic Development Partnership’."

"Using this approach to advance hostile border policies rooted in unevidenced deterrence & externalisation objectives, despite clear documentation of the medical harm caused, is unconscionable."

"We urge you to abandon this policy immediately to ensure that the rights, safety & humanity of people seeking asylum in the UK are acknowledged and safeguarded."

"International examples of externalisation policies have led to wide-scale abuse & been found to cause catastrophic mental and physical harm."

"In 2017-18, Médecins Sans Frontières’s mental health project on #Nauru Island, where people seeking safety were detained by the Australian Govt, more than 66% of their 208 asylum seeker & refugee patients - including children - engaged in self-harm, suicidal ideation & acts."

"It is therefore unsurprising that the prospect of removal to Rwanda, which is modelled closely on the failed Australian system, has exacerbated the mental health conditions (including post-traumatic stress disorder and depression) of the men, women & age disputed children...

...who have been threatened with expulsion, triggering fear, confusion and uncertainty about their safety. It has proven increased risks of self-harm and suicide, and undermined resilience to the psychological effects of trauma."

"Subjecting people seeking sanctuary in the UK, many of whom have mental health conditions and have histories of torture, trafficking and trauma, to such an inhumane process is a matter of significant concern for the medical community."

"As health professionals, committed to alleviating suffering, we cannot turn a blind eye to the harmful effects this policy is having and will continue to have on people who are made vulnerable by restrictive border policies."

"We cannot stand behind this policy on medical, ethical and humanitarian grounds and we join lawyers, civil society, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, trade unions and many Home Office officials themselves in their condemnation of this scheme."

"We find this policy, with its inevitable toll on the mental and physical health of those subject to it, unconscionable & abhorrent."

"We urge you to abandon it in its entirety & ensure that any further reform of the asylum system leads to a strengthening, rather than a weakening, of protection & dignity for those seeking sanctuary in the UK."

msf.org.uk/article/open-l…

Here's another recent letter about the UK Government's barbaric, abhorrent, immoral, cruel, unlawful & unnecessary #Rwanda Plan.

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1649687710481764352?t=tkMNG04mJU7hNuJQQvD4cw&s=19

The REAL reason so many asylum seekers are housed in the UK, & the backlog of asylum claims is so high, is because rather than reducing asylum costs, the @Conservatives DELIBERATELY MANUFACTURED A CRISIS, because scapegoating is their political strategy.

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1648254801048633345?t=tkMNG04mJU7hNuJQQvD4cw&s=19

Truly horrific situations are happening to ordinary people – human beings, not faceless numbers. Two-yr old asylum seeker Alan Kurdi drowned in 2015. How we choose to describe them impacts on how we view people who, in another life, could very well be us.

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1619700278948937729?s=20

Which ideological extreme Tory MPs are the cheerleaders for the proposed inhumane & abhorrent amendments to the Government's already cruel & barbaric 'Illegal Migration Bill'?

Some of them self-identify as "Christians'.

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1640635671718010883?s=20

Ruth Wodak is a brilliant linguist who has been analysing far-right populist discourse for decades. In the context of the latest "migrant crisis" & the demonization of refugees by those on the Right, everyone would benefit from her analysis & insights.

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1302270066180972544?s=20

It's depressing & speaks volumes about the abject state of our politicians & of our "news" media, that despite DECADES of debate around migration, most British people still don't even know the differences between 'migrants', 'asylum seekers', & 'refugees'.

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1448659726871318537?s=20

So who is & isn't a refugee? Here's a 60 second explainer of the UN Refugee Convention & the legal definition of a refugee.

Contrary to much UK Gov, media, & far-right rhetoric, people who have committed very serious crimes are excluded from protection.

For well-evidenced facts & other information about asylum seekers & refugees, there are many excellent & unbiased online websites which avoid the pitfalls & problems of the often divisive, partisan, & highly charged political & media rhetoric which dominates the issue.

Based at the Centre on Migration, Policy & Society at the University of Oxford, the Migration Observatory @MigObs provides impartial, independent, authoritative, evidence-based analysis of data on migration & migrants in the UK.

migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk

The @Refugees Agency, UNHCR is dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights & building a better future for people forced to flee their homes, established by the UN in 1950 in the aftermath of WWII to help the millions of people who had lost their homes.

unhcr.org

The @refugeecouncil is a leading UK charity, founded in 1951 following the creation of the UN Refugee Convention.

It exists to support & empower people who have fled conflict, violence and persecution in order to rebuild their lives here in the UK.

refugeecouncil.org.uk

I recommend visiting the @freemovementlaw website, founded (& edited) by barrister @ColinYeo1 in 2007, which gives accessible & well informed updates, commentary, & advice on UK immigration & asylum law, as well as offering the Govt practical solutions.

freemovement.org.uk

A #THREAD on the @Conservatives' 'performative politics' in relation to asylum seekers.

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1644045737267720206?t=YpFgYd3OEyc_cenBY0LRZw&s=19

Our news & politics media is failing the British people in its fundamental role of informing people about reality. Voters need to much better understand the nature & techniques of the @Conservatives' cynical, divisive, & misleading 'performative politics':

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1645419486021861376?t=_jRER1fBzYoytrlUV3EofQ&s=19