Interesting data map on where people who cross the Channel in boats are coming from

[cakeorwine]

I know it's the Express - but the data map is interesting

Small boat arrivals: Where are they coming from? MAPPED | UK | News | Express.co.uk

They have used Home office data to map the location of the 43,000 people who came to the UK up to March.

12,094 came from Albania
That didn't surprise me - I know that's been in the headlines.

But the rest is mainly from countries that you can see people fleeing war and horrendous regimes from -

Afghanistan - 8429
Then In third was Iran (5,450), followed by Iraq (4,041) and Syria (2,596)

Sudan - 1712
Egypt - 1230
India - 1321
Turkey - 1189
Vietnam - 489
Ethiopia - 453

The rest of the countries don't seem to have many people coming

What of course is not shown in those statistics is the people who have fled those countries and the numbers in refugee camps near where they used to live and the numbers who have gone to other countries.

108,000,000 people who are displaced at the moment.
6.5 million Syrian refugees
5.7 million Afghan refugees
5.7 million Ukrainian refugees


These numbers kind of put things into perspective when you look at what is happening in the world and you look at the countries people are coming from. I can understand why someone would want to leave countries like Afghanistan, Iran etc - and most of them do not make the trip to the UK

Some facts here

Global Trends Report 2022 | UNHCR

[Isthisexpected]

I do wish that UK news would frequently report the percentage of displaced people who actually seek asylum here relative to the number of people who are displaced. It definitely puts it in perspective. Whether people will care or not is a different matter I suppose, but it can't hurt to be reminded of how little we do for our fellow humans.

[cakeorwine]

The number do put it into perspective.

Most refugees are in camps near where they came from.
Iran itself has 2.6 million Afghan refugees.

And in Africa

Countries in sub-Saharan Africa hosted 1 in 5 of all refugees globally. A total of 7 million refugees remained displaced at the end of 2022, a slight
increase from the previous year.

The East and Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes region hosted
4.7 million refugees, primarily in Uganda (1.5 million), Sudan (1.1 million) and Ethiopia (879,600), which is consistent with the previous year.

West and Central African countries hosted 1.6 million refugees at the end of 2022, 5 per cent more than the previous year.
Almost 85 per cent of all refugees in the region resided in Chad (592,800),
Cameroon (473,900) and Niger (255,300).
Countries in Southern Africa continued to host slightly more than three-quarters of a million refugees (773,000), with most residing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (520,500).

Does sort of put things into perspective

[Useruser1]

Good info!

[cakeorwine]

I do think people would be surprised if they knew the full data.
It's also pretty clear that many people are fleeing conflict zones - ones that we've had a role in in conflict over the years.

It's also clear that the overwhelming number of people don't go too far from the country they leave.

[Believeitornot]

Yep. But don’t let pesky facts get in the way of peoples prejudice!

Human beings have migrated since time immemorial. Why would we stop now?

[BocolateChiscuits]

Thanks so much for sharing this.

[MrsBennetsPoorNerves]

I do think people would be surprised if they knew the full data.

I would like to believe this, but I'm not sure how willing most people would be to engage with the data. The facts should matter to people, but I wonder how much they really do.

[Maireas]

I think probably people realise Albania tops the list because there's been some coverage of this.
Numbers from Turkey and India surprise me.

[cakeorwine]

The Government has some stats on its schemes

Safe and legal routes - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

"The global resettlement scheme is open to vulnerable refugees around the world. Individuals coming through this scheme are assessed and referred by the UNHCR according to their criteria, which is based on people’s needs and vulnerabilities.
People coming via this route only move to the UK once suitable accommodation is in place for them. Since its launch in 2021, the UK has taken refugees through this route from countries including Ethiopia, Iraq, Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Somalia, South Sudan, and Yemen.
Since the first arrivals under the new UK Resettlement scheme in March 2021, 2,023 refugees have been resettled in the UK via the UKRS, as of December 2022."

And their first statement:

It is our longstanding principle that those in need of protection should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach. For many people, it is in their best interests to stay close to the region or in a neighbouring country where there are often similarities in culture and language, and they can be supported by international organisations, including the UN


Which is true - the overwhelming number of people do stay in the region nearest to where they came from in refugee camps

[Maireas]

I would like to see more support for women refugees, from countries such as Iran where they have little or no human or civil rights.

[cakeorwine]

@MrsBennetsPoorNerves

I do think people would be surprised if they knew the full data.

I would like to believe this, but I'm not sure how willing most people would be to engage with the data. The facts should matter to people, but I wonder how much they really do.

I think this would make a good infographic. Just showing the relative size of the number of refugees versus the number of people who cross the channel from these countries.

Visualising data can make a bigger impact

[cakeorwine]

Just a bump for the evening crowd.

[Riapia]

Even the ones fleeing from a war zone are desperate to get away from the EU shithole.

[eveoha]

I do worry about the mainly unidentifiable diseases etc which they are bringing in with them

[DogInATent]

@Riapia

Even the ones fleeing from a war zone are desperate to get away from the EU shithole.

If you look at where they're coming from, many of them are former Empire colonies or with strong historic ties to British militarism and imperialism. There is still a strong cultural connection.

It must be a incredibly powerful connection they feel, to still want to come here despite the presence of immature jingoists like yourself.

[LastTrainEast]

DogInATent No way to know where the illegals are coming from since they destroy their papers, but not war zones or any place they might suffer.
If that were the case they'd be eager for us to know their home country.

It's actually about the UK currently being the softest touch and with more than our share of gullible people.

Your last paragraph is a wonderful example of that.

[LastTrainEast]

Oh and GOOD NEWS There's a suggestion that the illegals should be placed with ordinary people in the UK so you'll have every chance to show them the respect they are looking for.

And to learn and embrace their culture too. Can't expect them to take on ours.

[cakeorwine]

Interesting couple of posts

"illegals"
"unidentifiable diseases"

[DogInATent]

@cakeorwine

Interesting couple of posts

"illegals"
"unidentifiable diseases"

I think you may have triggered something...

[TonTonMacoute]

Wouldn’t it be great if the UN actually did the job it was originally set up to do and set up negotiations to try and bring about peace and stability in these countries?

Then all the Syrians, Afghans, Sudanese etc etc etc ordinary people could live in their own counties peacefully and happily, instead of being driven out by the political posturing of a handful of greedy psychotic (usually) men.

What a complete waste of incredible human potential, and for what? Who gains from this complete fuck up of a world?

[Blackbyrd]

Albania, Egypt, Turkey, India and Vietnam. Wasn't aware that there were existing major conflicts in any of these countries? Therefore these people are primarily economic migrants. People like the OP can pontificate from their positions of privilege as much as they like, however the UK simply cannot afford to carry on spending billions of pounds a year in accommodation costs alone for asylum seekers. Apart from essentially condoning people smuggling and other criminal activities

Where do we draw the line with inwards immigration? Blatantly our existing infrastructure cannot cope, central government funding is being diverted from deprived areas of the UK already to fund temporary housing countrywide- so it will be the poorest members of our society who will suffer the consequences of this. Not least the complete absence of social housing as once a person officially becomes a refugee they are the responsibility of the local authority and require housing

Before the tedious cries of racism start up, ONS statistics illustrate that people of colour are overrepresented in the poorest sectors of society. We do have a duty towards legitimate asylum seekers of course, no one can argue that women and children aren't treated abominably in many countries. Let's direct our limited resources towards helping them. We are not responsible for all the world's ills and no amount of virtual signalling will change that fact

[Superdupes]

It may be a comparatively small number compared to the huge number of currently displaced people but 43,000 people arriving with little or nothing every 3 months is still going to present a big problem to any country I would imagine.
I don't know what the answer is though.

Lebanon has the highest amount of refugees per capita worldwide but it doesn't mean they are all happily resettled there, Lebanon is in a huge mess. People there are facing poverty and food insecurity and many of the Syrians are there in fear, people are being deported. We also have to remember that a lot of poorer countries get financial help from UNHCR (which the UK are part of) or specific governments to help pay for the refugees they take in. Uganda who have a very open door policy to refugees got around 160 million pounds from the UNHCR in 2022 (if I worked that out correctly). They are still in a shortfall though and want/need more money.

What we really need is for the world to be more stable, not have these crazy despots in charge and people be able to stay where they are born as most would like to do. I think maybe what we need is for women to rule the world rather than men, I'm sure it would be a more reasonable place then. Far too many power crazy fucking men.

[Moonmelodies]

The boats are actually coming from France, no?

[Maireas]

I suspect any gay men living in Uganda would need to seek refuge elsewhere, @Superdupes

[cakeorwine]

t may be a comparatively small number compared to the huge number of currently displaced people but 43,000 people arriving with little or nothing every 3 months is still going to present a big problem to any country I would imagine

Every year - not every 3 months

Rishi Sunak's claims on small boats fact checked - BBC News