#RefugeeWeek is a beautiful celebration of welcome and dignity for those seeking sanctuary. It is also in resistance against an increasingly hostile environment for refugees and asylum seekers.
This 🧵 highlights the harms of that environment, to arm those fighting against it
THREAD & RESOURCES 🧵
As we mark #RefugeeWeek, we salute all those who have taken to the streets to ensure that criticisms of the EU & Greece for creating the conditions for the worst shipwreck in recent Mediterranean history are not buried by Greek authorities.
Last week’s horrific news found at least 78 people drowned after an overcrowded trawler capsized off the southern Peloponnese, with the death toll likely to be higher
500 are still missing & so far there have been no women & children amongst the survivors https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/14/scores-drown-refugee-boat-sinks-off-greece
We should particularly salute the investigations team @we_are_solomon & volunteers from @alarm_phone who have worked day & night to create a timeline of events which point to a failure of the authorities to render assistance after multiple distress calls https://wearesolomon.com/mag/focus-area/migration/they-are-urgently-asking-for-help-the-sos-that-was-ignored
Deaths at the border are the inevitable result of policies that punish, instead of support, people on the move.
@UNITED__Network have a list of 52,760 documented deaths of refugees and migrants due to the restrictive policies of "Fortress Europe".
https://unitedagainstrefugeedeaths.eu/about-the-campaign/about-the-united-list-of-deaths/
We want to highlight the policy direction that states are pursuing and the inhumane treatment of migrants and refugees.
The following resources point to the huge loss of life, ongoing harm, and war against migrants caused by draconian state policies. 👇
Earlier this year, IRR trustee @FrancesWebber5 wrote about policing migration & Britishness for #BritanniaEnchained, a 4-part series. She details the war on migrants & asylum seekers which has been at the centre of government rhetoric as well as policy. https://irr.org.uk/article/britannia-enchained-policing-migration-britishness/
Last October, IRR vice-chair Joseph Maggs (@jsggvm) wrote a long-read on Manston, an isolated former RAF base in Kent, that was - and still is - being used by the Home Office to warehouse migrants reaching England’s southeastern shores on small boats.
https://irr.org.uk/article/manston-state-violence-in-a-no-access-border-zone/
‘Manston is the kind of no-access border zone where a culture of violence, abuse and neglect can thrive with impunity.’
Maggs provided a first-person account after visiting the facility last October alongside fellow activists from @sdetsup and other groups and organisations.
Last autumn when net migration statistics rose, the government showed it was ‘taking back control’ by announcing a crackdown on foreign students at ‘inadequate institutions’ & their dependants with The Daily Mail's reporting targeting Nigerian students.
https://irr.org.uk/article/international-students-pawns-in-the-migration-game/
A report on citizenship-stripping powers by @FrancesWebber5 last year highlighted how powers introduced since 2002 have enshrined a ‘second-class citizenship’ in the UK, mainly affecting British Muslims.
Read the report and press release here 👇https://irr.org.uk/article/citizenship-from-right-to-privilege/
Anticipating the Nationality and Borders Act, this 2021 article lays out a response to the government’s plans for immigration which uses the gaps in the Refugee Convention, and calls out the illegality, impracticality & immorality of the asylum proposals. https://irr.org.uk/article/playing-the-refugee-convention/
Following the tragic loss of life in the Mediterranean last week, this report on the militarisation of Britain's borders, shows how both in & beyond the UK, states are continuing to make safe passage unviable, leading to untold deaths
https://irr.org.uk/article/deadly-crossings/
Whilst Europe's necropolitics have been laid bare, we are also seeing the effects of government rhetoric and policies on asylum seekers and migrants living in the UK, from increased surveillance and monitoring to attacks on asylum accommodation.
🧵continues...
'From Ireland to Knowsley, we have seen attacks on asylum housing & the weaponisation of gender-based violence'
In this article, Sophia Siddiqui investigates the role of the far-right & the state in the violent targeting of asylum seeker accommodation. https://irr.org.uk/article/from-ireland-to-knowsley-attacks-on-asylum-housing-and-the-weaponisation-of-gender-based-violence/
Last year we published an article by @DrMonishBhatia& @LucieCAudibert who chart the frightening use of Electronic Monitoring (EM) in immigration enforcement to surveil and control migrants through GPS tagging to facial recognition watches.
https://irr.org.uk/article/from-gps-tagging-to-facial-recognition-watches-expanding-the-surveillance-of-migrants-in-the-uk/
For more of a summary of our work on policing borders, read Impunity Entrenched by @FrancesWebber5
https://irr.org.uk/article/policing-the-borders-impunity-entrenched/
We also highlight these articles in French from Les Jours (@Lesjoursfr) written by Maël Galisson (@Mael_icilabas) on a project for a series about the deaths at the Franco-British border. The first three episodes are out: https://lesjours.fr/obsessions/calais-migrants-morts/
Our fortnightly news service includes a Calendar of Racism & Resistance which has an asylum & migration section containing reports on border violence & resistance, as well as our newsletter which analyses new trends & developments. Sign up here: https://irr.org.uk/newsletter/
Here are some events coming up showing resistance to the hostile environment with actions and ways people can support migrants in the UK 🧵👇
