The Criminalization of the Refugees and Asylum Seekers - Essay Example

This essay examines the extent to which refugees and asylum seekers in the country have been criminalized through analysis of the various atrocities they continue to face judging by the number of reports in the media. To begin, it is important to look at who the refuges and asylum seekers are according to international definitions. The United Nations defines a refugee as an individual who as a result of the fear of being unfairly victimized because of his or her orientation in terms of religion, race, country of origin, affiliation to certain groupings or associations, or belonging to a particular ideological divide has found him or herself out of the country of origin and therefore is not in a position to go back due to security reasons or other factors arising from the fear of being persecuted (1951 Refugee Convention). On the other hand, any individual who officially requests for protection under the 1951 Refugee Convention or Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights is referred to as an asylum seeker. However, the two definitions are often misinterpreted to mean that the two mentioned categories of persons may be treated as illegal. In the year 2011, the number of those applying for asylum in the country rose to 11% points more than that of the previous year with most individuals coming mainly from Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan and Iran. In the continental front, Europe tops the list with of applicants with 4,048 foreign nationals (Refugee Council 2012a). Immigration has been a major issue in the United Kingdom with statistics indicating that the country tops in the region for the number of visitors it receives annually in the name of refugees and asylum seekers. The ruling labour party’s reign has been faced with this great issue since it formed the government back in the year 1997(Cooper 2009). There have been significant levels of immigrants trooping into the country and the sensational reporting of the media on the subject has surely created more attention concerning this issue on the public domain (Cooper 2009). According to statistics, ‘513,000 immigrants came into the country in the year of 2002 up from that of 265,000 individuals in the year 1993,’ (office for national statistics-2012). This has been further spurned into public attention in a manner that it has continued to create tensions through the negative reporting of the media especially with increased requests for asylum in the early 90’s (Cooper 2009). For instance, a study carried out in the year 2003 indicated that most people believed that immigration was becoming an issue of national interest. Immigrants may come in different ways into the country, which may include legal or illegal means. Examples include tourists, students, diplomats or even workers (Kelly 2012). With the global concerns for the terrorism threats and the suggestions by the media that immigrants have continued to exert pressure on the country’s resources, the refuges and asylum seekers have been therefore faced with the threat of being criminalized or coerced into criminal activities because of the vulnerable situation they have found themselves in. Discrimination against these people has taken many forms as indicated in the following discussions. Physical Abuse Physical abuse has often been based on the general reasoning that asylum seekers may collectively be a threat to a country’s territory and state sovereignty. The main reasoning as popularly stated by politicians is that the issue is about the protection and defence of a country’s territorial fronts. Prior to the rise in the number of asylum seekers in the United Kingdom in the period before the dawn of new millennium, the foreigners were well catered for in the sense that there was positive response from the media and policy making individuals and hence were not considered as a physical threat to British state security (Innes 2010). In the period before that, there was still a positive atmosphere for the refugees and asylum seekers; with refugee regulations and procedures providing alleys for the protection against communism. With the rise in numbers from the period beginning the late 90’s, the situation has drastically changed; even though it is important to note that there was an important distinction between refugees and other immigrants even before that period. Owing to the public perception that the two categories of persons are illegal occupants of the nation who may be in the country to perpetrate further illegalities even if that may not be the case, the asylum seekers and refuges in the country have often been physically abused in public and their places of residence. Common forms of physical violations have been those of bodily harm, assault by the members of street group gangs and other scattered cases in social places like educational institutions where students have been often been bullied and threatened with serious violations like murder (Innes 2010). The governmental and law enforcement agencies like the police have been also involved in the various forms of physical abuse of the refugees and asylum seekers in the country. They have continued to use excessive force towards foreigners and are likely to torture, abuse and unlawfully detain suspects even if their purported crimes are not properly ascertained. The fact is that they continue to do so with a biasness directed to the foreign nationals who have to meet tight and restrictive conditions as will be discussed elsewhere in this paper. The women who are foreign nationals seeking asylum in the country are more prone to physical abuse that include sexual harassment, violence in public and even sometimes rape (Gaines, 2007). It is also important to note that most forms of abuse have been racial based. All these have been done and continued to be done because there is fear of facing authorities by the violated victims or the fear that the police may subject them to further physical violations or even ridicule. In addition, their refugee or asylum status that is subject to unfair scrutiny is a major contributing factor to the increased vulnerability of females to be physically abused. Even children have not been left out in this act of detention which may sometimes take several days (Refugee Council 2012b). Economic Threat Besides being made look like a potential or an automatic security threat, asylum seekers and refugees are viewed as economic threats by the majority of the citizens living in the country because of the obvious pressure they may exert as result of increased numbers in the United Kingdom. This representation has been skewed to the issue of identification and the limitation of the refugees and asylum seekers in terms of accessing the national economy because they may not identify themselves as nationals of the country. As a consequence, the dominant theme in the media platforms, public pronouncements, government publications and other analytic opinions has been that of the idea that asylum seekers are economically motivated and therefore are in the country to be able to empower themselves economically at the expense of other citizens who are entitled to such benefits. The general perception that has been created therefore has led to discrimination of the asylum seekers and refugees through tendencies that can closely be associated with economic sabotage. Government policy has therefore been aimed at guarding the interests of its citizens through retraction in the policy framework. For instance, the two categories of persons do not enjoy the benefits they previously enjoyed because of the withdrawal of such benefits. A good example is the 1996 Immigration and Asylum Act, which withdrew social security entitlement from some categories of asylum seekers. As a consequence, the categories were rendered ineligible for various benefits like: child benefit, housing benefit, income support and council tax benefit. Another form of economic sabotage is being faced by the dependants of the refugees and asylum seekers in the country. For instance, the 1999 Immigration and Asylum Act effectively eliminated the various entitlements of most benefits that were previously enjoyed by refugees and asylum seekers with regards to non-contributory family and disability. Instead, system of vouchers was established for the payment remittance to the refugees. This stigma that has been directed to the asylum seekers has therefore been extreme and has been inclined to an extent that it can be said that they are considered outsiders in the area of economic development which might not be the fact as further discussed in other sections of this essay. The media has delved on the issue of economic concerns in the country and a preview in some of the headlines will reveal the reality. From early years, the media fraternity has reported on the various issues that sometimes were out rightly biased like: ‘Asylum Seekers’ £300m in Handouts’ (Daily Mail, 8 December 1998); ‘Cheeky Beggars; Refugees Arrested Scrounging’ (Daily Record, 16 March 2000); ‘Asylum Seekers in Scotland get Cash Handouts’ (Daily Mail, 27 March 2000); ‘Shut the Tunnel to Stop the Invasion; Asylum Lunacy’ (Daily Star, 15 May 2002); ‘Asylum Seekers are Out for Cash’ (This Is Lancashire, 29 June 2002); there was even a call for citizens to ‘Boycott Lottery as Funds Assist Asylum Seekers’ (The Express, 13 September 2002) (as cited by Innes 2010). In the retrospect, it is notable that the negative assumption that refugees and asylum seekers are not economic burdens but may be means of improving the said economy. The economic contributions of the asylum seekers and refugees who are mostly hard working have given a contrary outlook that may come as a surprise to many people who believe they are a threat to the economy. For example, The Independent (17 July 2000) points to the economic benefits of immigration, The Sunday Times (3 March 2002) reports that the net contribution in taxes from immigrants outweighs the net cost by £2.4 billion, The Mirror (8 July 2004) reports that Eastern European immigrants have added £4 million to the UK GDP. These are just illustrations of how important the two categories of persons have remained beneficial to the economy of the United Kingdom despite the doubts and economic hurdles they have continued to face. However, the perception still continues to exist even if such facts have been at the disposal of public domain (Finney 2005). A poll conducted to ascertain the view of voters on this issue found out that about seventy percent of the participants still held that asylum seekers did not deserve the services they were getting in public offices and elsewhere. There have been efforts by government to curb illegal entry into the country that has in turn affected these people. Strict Requirements and Legal Impediments The introduction of the Criminal Immigration and Justice Act 2008 that led to creation of a “special immigration status” for instance has led to the implication that foreigners who commit crimes may not freely move in and out of the country. Although this may be justified to some extent, it may also mean that the freedom of those asylum seekers or refugees who might have followed required regulation standards may also be affected even through their dependants. Other acts that restrict the benefits of the foreigners in the areas of housing and social security may also be other methods of making sure that they do not have equal rights within the same country that people enjoy rights and freedoms. The screening measures provided by law are a violation of human rights. Most of the time, they have difficulties in acquiring the documents that have been brought by the new policy guidelines. For instance, as a result of stringent requirements, the refuges find themselves at awkward situations when they need to find jobs and placements in companies. Biased Media Even though it is not universally true, it is clear that some sections of the media and politicians who have influence in the said media houses are xenophobic and therefore have the tendency of creating perceptions that may lead to public hate towards the refugee and asylum seekers in the United Kingdom (Fekete and Webber 2010). They have found ways of referring to such people in the society, which sometimes maybe unethical besides a violation of human freedoms and rights. For example, word and expressions like: “invaders, scavengers, scroungers, bogus, illegal immigrants, spongers, vermin,” have been variedly used in the British media to describe the refugees and asylum seekers. As a matter of fact, the media has been widely used as a lethal tool for peddling stereotypes and fallacies that have led to the increased prejudice of the same in the eyes of the general public. Conclusion It is evident from the above discussion and analysis of select cases that the two categories of persons have faced unfair criminalization in the hands of the government and the general public in the country. The media which shapes opinions of most citizens has be widely deployed to achieve the objective of portraying the refugees and asylum seekers as people who only want to benefit from the tax payers’ money (Joint Parliamentary committee on human rights report (2007). The media should remain committed to addressing their plight rather than worsening their situation through biased reporting. The criminalization of the refugees and asylum seekers has remained persistent in the country even though there are steps to address the issue. Even though the United Kingdom is facing the pressure by being a country that leads in the intake of such persons, it is also important that it may also be positively impacting the nation’s economic situation. Refugees are just a stark reminder of the world we live in today where there have been a lot of political and civil unrests that make some regions inhabitable. They are a picture of how people elsewhere have faced discriminatory tendencies that we shamelessly continue to accord them when in reality they need our support to be brought back to their feet after not finding peace in their countries of origin. According to indications of the UNHCR (2012), there are over 23 million refugees and displaced people and other moved populace all over the world. Refugees and asylum seekers represent the failures of humanity at large to create a safe, secure and habitable world and therefore adding insult to that injury may not be the best solution. This whole issue raises questions upon the necessity of civilization. As a principle, civilization is the full recognition of human dignity and the worth of every individual without consideration of their backgrounds socially, religiously or racially. Anything short of that challenges the very essence of civilization and the positive efforts to create a fully tolerant multicultural world. The widespread claim that people come to Britain to fulfil their dream of living as scroungers contradicts the glaring facts. The government has the prerogative of protecting the country’s interest and by restricting entry of illegal immigrants that may come in the name of asylum seekers or refugees should not be condoned. However, the government should be more proactive to the challenges brought about by the rising numbers of refugees in the country and be careful not to violate basic human rights. Bibliography Cooper, C, 2009, 'Refugees Asylum Seekers and Criminal Justice' in Bhui, H.S (ed) Race and Criminal Justice. Pages 137-154 Fekete, L and Webber, F 2010, ‘Foreign Nationals, Enemy Penology and the Criminal Justice System’, Race and Class, 51(4):1-25. Finney, N 2005, Key Issues: Public Opinion on Asylum and Refugee Issues, ICAR, London. Gaines, S 2007, Refugee Women tell their Stories. Society Guadian, 20th, November 2007 accessed on 8th December, 2012 from http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2007/nov/20/immigrationandpublicservices.immigrationasylumandrefugees1 Great Britain: Parliament: Joint Committee on Human Rights (2007). The treatment of asylum seekers: tenth report of session 2006-07, vol. 2 Kelly, T 2012, ‘Soft-touch Britain, the asylum seeker capital of Europe: We let in more than anyone else last year’, The Daily Mail Online. Innes, A 2010, When the Threatened Become the Threat: The Construction of Asylum Seekers in British Media Narratives, International Relations 24(4), 456-477. Refugee Council 2012a, Not A Minor Offence: unaccompanied children locked up as part of the asylum system, Refugee Council, London. Refugee Council 2012b, Refugee Council Information, Asylum Statistics Factsheet, September 2012, Refugee Council, London. The independent 2012, Economic Benefits of Immigrants, accessed on 8th December, 2012 from www.independent.co.uk The Sunday times 2012, Tax Contributions By Immigrants, accessed 8th December, 2012 from www.thesundaytimes.co.uk The Mirror 2012, GDP Boost by Immigrants, accessed 8th December, 2012 from www.mirror.co.uk UNHCR 2012, Convections on The Refugees And Asylum Seekers/ World Refugee Status 2012, accessed 8th December, 2012 from www.unhcr.org Read More