@FrenchBoule you’re welcome! There’s a lot of negative press around asylum seekers in the mainstream media and not much explanation of why they come to the UK/Europe.
@ScrollingLeaves I didn’t take it as you saying men shouldn’t be refugees at all, don’t worry! :) In terms of intake/space, asylum seekers make up about 0.3% of the UK’s total population, and something like 5 or 6% of total immigrants. We take a relatively small % compared to most other EU countries, but then, we are smaller! I completely agree that there are currently huge problems with lack of housing and inadequate infrastructure (including doctors/gps, school places, hospital beds) for all of us, thanks to the government’s consistent underfunding and reliance on austerity.
The lack of safe routes and resettlement schemes also means the burden of looking after asylum seekers falls disproportionately on the south east (which also has its own problems with poverty) and stretching the services there, rather than being spread evenly throughout the country.
With the Hong Kong immigrants, I seriously doubt the government has made any provision in terms of infrastructure, location or assimilation, so another potential problem brewing there, especially if the MSM take the increase in racism against East Asians due to covid, and ramps it up further.
@Ijsbear Completely agree with your frustration that richer countries in the ME aren’t doing more to help. The UAE is an odd one though. They’re not signatories to the 1951 refugee convention so they have no “obligation” (insert eye roll) to take in refugees. They do claim to offer large amounts of financial support to countries in crisis, in lieu of taking in refugees.
However, even before the conflict in Syria, the UAE had a relatively big Syrian population. During the conflict, some Syrians were able to enter as family members of Syrians working and living in the UAE. The costs of living are high though, meaning life is very hard for families, and usually only the higher earners are able to bring family over (although I think this was relaxed in some cases). Syrians were also offered migrant working visas (easy to get for both skilled and unskilled workers) on a temporary basis, so don’t show up in the typical “asylum seeker” numbers as they are technically counted as economic migrants instead. As the UAE population is pretty mixed in terms of nationality, this may be the case for other refugees but I’m not 100% sure.
However, it’s also important to say that there are plenty who this system doesn’t work for (those who can’t work or have no family already in the UAE), who are effectively forced to live “off the grid” with no support in a country where the cost of living is through the roof. So while they are doing something, I’d agree it’s not enough, and doesn’t come close to addressing the needs of women and children escaping conflict.
Also completely agree with you and other posters who have said that no-one should be called racist because of the refugees they want to/are able to help. While it’s not always important to have identical matches (both white, Christian, middle aged for eg) it’s so so important that any differences are understood and respected on both sides. That’s not always possible and that’s very rarely anyone’s fault.