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Geography | Citizenship

The asylum seekers who reshaped the world

Does the world need a new approach to refugees? The UK has announced changes to its asylum law, hoping to discourage displaced people from reaching the country illegally. Farrokh Bulsara’s home was shattered by violence. In 1964, a revolution in Zanzibar on the east coast of Africa overthrew the ruling sultan. In the ensuing chaos, 17,000 people died. Farrokh’s family fled to Britain, where they were resettled in Feltham, to the west of London. Less than ten years after his family had left Zanzibar, he was on his way to global fame. His rock band, Queen, was taking off, and so was Farrokh, who had renamed himself Freddy Mercury. Mercury’s is just one among countless stories of people throughout history who have been forced to leave their homes because of violence, disaster or persecution. The UNHCR estimates that more than 1% of the world’s population is currently displaced — this includes 26 million refugees. Of these, 126,720 have been accepted as refugees by the UK, with a further 45,244 people awaiting decisions on their claim for asylum. This group made headlines yesterday when the UK home secretary, Priti Patel, laid out government plans to overhaul the rules for asylum. “Our system is collapsing”, the minister told parliament. Patel defended the controversial changes, which would penalise those who entered the UK illegally. She argued that they would deter people-smuggling, while making it easier for those who came legally to be settled swiftly. Many refugees have gone on to great things. Mercury was not the last pop star to be resettled. Rita Ora was resettled in Britain after her family fled Yugoslavia in 1991, while the rapper MIA and her parents fled the Sri Lankan civil war to come to the UK. Refugees have found success in every walk of life as artists, athletes, scholars and captains of industry. Earlier in the 20th Century, some of Europe’s most important thinkers became refugees. These were Jews who escaped from Germany. From Albert Einstein, who revolutionised modern physics, to Hannah Arendt, the great political philosopher and Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, refugees changed the course of history. Of these, only Freud settled in the UK, but Britain also took in 10,000 Jewish children who escaped Nazi Germany thanks to the Kindertransport. After World War Two, however, many in Europe, the UK and the USA saw that they had not done nearly enough. It was then that the UN began to establish the modern rights of refugees, first laid out in a convention in 1951. Some critics, including the UNHCR, claim that the UK’s proposed asylum changes violate these standards. Not every refugee is a star, but every displaced person has a story. While governments and agencies argue about the scale of forced migration, these stories help us consider the human scale of individual lives. Does the world need a new approach to refugees? Unsettled Yes, say some. The crisis triggered by the ongoing Syrian civil war is proof that the current approach has failed. It is a huge injustice that 84% of refugees are hosted by low- and middle-income countries. Not enough has been done to ensure that refugees have safe routes to flee persecution. There should be a new globally binding framework to ensure fairness between countries and security for refugees. No, say others. The pressures that the politics of migration place on countries make it difficult to imagine how a new collaborative approach would benefit refugees. Germany’s decision to take in one million refugees in 2015 created political turmoil – and the EU later struck a deal with Turkey to keep refugees out. Many argue that welcoming policies create a greater draw, encouraging people to move along unsafe routes and increase suffering. KeywordsAsylum - When a state agrees to shelter somebody who is fleeing dangerous circumstances. The right to asylum is protected in international law by the 1951 Refugee Convention.

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