Refugees

[Rinatinabina]

Do you think people generally would be more open to receiving refugees if they were primarily women and children?

For example if there were mainly women in tents in Calais do you think Britain generally would be happier accepting them than they are men?

YABU: it wouldn’t make a difference
YANBU: people would be more welcoming to women

I used to work with unaccompanied minors, ie children. They were treated like shit by the asylum system, and they faced a huge amount of racism in the local community. I found it hard to believe that people could be so cold about kids who had been through the most unimaginable trauma. I guess their faces didn't fit.

So no, I don't think it would make a huge amount of difference.

I think it would help if people knew what they were fleeing as we don't really hear about the situation in the countries they are coming from most think they are just economic refugees after our benefits.

No, I don't think people would be more accommodating or sympathetic to women and children. They are a much bigger drain to the public purse than men who can work cash in hand.

@AlexaShutUp

I used to work with unaccompanied minors, ie children. They were treated like shit by the asylum system, and they faced a huge amount of racism in the local community. I found it hard to believe that people could be so cold about kids who had been through the most unimaginable trauma. I guess their faces didn't fit.

So no, I don't think it would make a huge amount of difference.

That’s really sad 🙁

It was heartbreaking @Rinatinabina, but it also made me incredibly angry. The horrors that those kids had faced were beyond my comprehension. They needed help, not hostility.

Having said that, there are some amazing people in this country who work tirelessly to help without any recognition or fanfare. I take my hat off to those individuals who show real humanity and compassion. I wish there were more of them around.

@AlexaShutUp

I used to work with unaccompanied minors, ie children. They were treated like shit by the asylum system, and they faced a huge amount of racism in the local community. I found it hard to believe that people could be so cold about kids who had been through the most unimaginable trauma. I guess their faces didn't fit.

So no, I don't think it would make a huge amount of difference.

We had two foster boys growing up with us and were lovely people. It's a shame really.

I don't think it's about women and children being acceptable, some people just don't like them because of where they're from.

I dislike the whole idea that somehow women and children are more "deserving" of support. What they're doing in Ukraine is incredibly sexist, letting women leave but making men stay to fight. I thought the world was beyond this now, women should be seen as having the same capability as men.

I suppose the argument is that if loads of women came into the country as refugees but the men from those countries were prevented from coming, it would mean the demographics of the country changed and there'd be significantly more women than men which could lead to more women in power and also a reduction in violence from men.

I think people would be more open if they actually understood why refugees wanted to come to the U.K. specifically, what they are fleeing from and why the countries in between are not deemed safe.

I mean, the informations out there if you can be bothered to look but most people just look at the tents in Calais specifically and wonder what’s wrong with staying in France.

@AlexaShutUp

It was heartbreaking *@Rinatinabina*, but it also made me incredibly angry. The horrors that those kids had faced were beyond my comprehension. They needed help, not hostility.

Having said that, there are some amazing people in this country who work tirelessly to help without any recognition or fanfare. I take my hat off to those individuals who show real humanity and compassion. I wish there were more of them around.

It must be awful for them thinking they are moving towards safety and a better place and to feel isolated, fearful and rejected when they get there. Just can’t imagine being horrible to child for no reason.

I think it would help if people knew what they were fleeing as we don't really hear about the situation in the countries they are coming from most think they are just economic refugees after our benefits.
What a load of Daily Mail bollocks, "after our benefits"

Imo with regard economic migrants, I'm surprised we don't see loads more of them in the rich world. These people have eyes in the head, they can see how much we have and how little they have. I don't blame they for rocking up and wanting to know where their share of the worlds wealth is.

I hate so much the low value we put on men's lives. It's like we as a species have not progressed beyond the lifeboats on the titanic. Women and children first, as well as handful of men so long as they are 'first class' and everyone else can drown or die.

I think people being 'wary' of refugees is thinly veiled racism most of the time.

One instant change I would make would be to let asylum seekers work. Although that would probably open them up to the whip cracking sanction laden benefit system.

As regards economic migrants, if I was in my home and could not afford to feed myself or my family, damn straight I would move somewhere where I could afford to do that. I'm not the kind of person who would just wait for death, I am the kind of person who will go through hell for my family. I know the gift that hope can be when you are in a time of despair and darkness. If the choice is to stay and have no hope, or emigrate and have hope, I know I would emigrate. My family were emigrants not so many generations ago for economic reasons, the light skinned kind though so nobody knows to judge me on it.

This fear of refugees and asylum seekers is 100% thinly veiled racism and xenophobia, and often times Islamophobia as well. We want the refugees from the Ukraine now right? But didn't want those from Syria?
It's all to do with skin colour and religion and other forms of othering.

@ADHDWoman

I hate so much the low value we put on men's lives. It's like we as a species have not progressed beyond the lifeboats on the titanic. Women and children first, as well as handful of men so long as they are 'first class' and everyone else can drown or die.

Tbf women in many of the places that contribute to refugee numbers are extremely vulnerable, so I guess in afghanistan right now women will find it hard to access work to support their families without male family members or not having the “protection” of a male. There was a report on very young syrian girls being married off in aid camps because a) their parents felt they couldn’t provide for them b) they feared that without a husband for protection their daughters would be trafficked or raped. Also watched a report on nigerian women trafficked into sexual exploitation in Italy. Female refugees do appear to be more vulnerable especially once they are on the move, same for children I imagine.

From another recent thread on here about offering refuge in your own home, there were quite a few "women and children only" responses.
Quite why posters assume that refugee males are more likely to be paedophiles that their own husbands or sons, not quite sure.

In my experience, unaccompanied teenage boys are every bit as vulnerable to exploitation as unaccompanied teenage girls. There are some truly evil people out there.

We want the refugees from the Ukraine now right?
Actually we don't. The government is putting every barrier it can possibly get away with to prevent them coming.

Our government don't, but I think a lot of citizens are a lot more pro Ukrainian refugees Than Syrian ones. If there were mass collections in the same way for Syria or Afghanistan I must have missed them

@ADHDWoman

Our government don't, but I think a lot of citizens are a lot more pro Ukrainian refugees Than Syrian ones. If there were mass collections in the same way for Syria or Afghanistan I must have missed them

Actually, there were mass collections for Syrian refugees where I live, coordinated by a local restaurant owner. I believe that the response was very generous. I have not been aware of similar collections for Afghanistan though.

Quite why posters assume that refugee males are more likely to be paedophiles that their own husbands or sons, not quite sure.
I don't think that's the case. I think it's that males in general are more likely to be paedophiles (or present a threat) than females. This is the case the world over as reflected in crime statistics. Male violence is a real thing (which isn't to say females are never violent).

Oh 100% girls and women are so vulnerable to exploitation as refugees, but boys absolutely are as well. In somewhat different ways.

I think generally people are more welcoming to war refugees then they are economic migrants. Many people see those in Calais as the later - as they have passed through several countries where they could have already claimed asylum but they have chosen to
Push on to the UK for reasons other than seeking refuge.

Our government don't, but I think a lot of citizens are a lot more pro Ukrainian refugees Than Syrian ones. If there were mass collections in the same way for Syria or Afghanistan I must have missed them
I think one factor though is that people can actually drive to Ukraine. Lots of these collections are being coordinated by Polish people who will have done most of that drive themselves.