The government’s treatment of refugees makes international criminals of them all, in my opinion

Posted on

I am so bored of hearing Tories talking about illegal immigration by refugees, whether in the House of Lords or on Question Time, that I went to find the definition of a refugee by the UN High Commission on Refugees. This is it. The emphasis is mine:


We are signed up to this.

It makes clear that those who think they are refugees may, quite explicitly, break migration law.

They must be welcomed.

They must be provided with care.

They just even be issued with a passport if they have none of their own or one they do not wish to use.

There is no right to refuse entry, or to force them to leave.

They may not be detained.

It is shaming that ministers and the media continually ignore these obligations.

Why do they do that? Because they can never imagine themselves as refugees. It is arrogant exceptionalism that lets them treat the refugee as ‘the other'.

Well, that and the empathy bypasses that all who join the Tories must compulsorily have. And it is totally shameful, and makes international criminals of them all, in my opinion.


Thanks for reading this post.
You can share this post on social media of your choice by clicking these icons:

There are links to this blog's glossary in the above post that explain technical terms used in it. Follow them for more explanations.

You can subscribe to this blog's daily email here.

And if you would like to support this blog you can, here:

  • Richard Murphy

    Read more about me

  • Support This Site

    If you like what I do please support me on Ko-fi using credit or debit card or PayPal

  • Archives

  • Categories

  • Taxing wealth report 2024

  • Newsletter signup

    Get a daily email of my blog posts.

    Please wait...

    Thank you for sign up!

  • Podcast

  • Follow me

    LinkedIn

    LinkedIn

    Mastodon

    @RichardJMurphy

    BlueSky

    @richardjmurphy.bsky.social