NGOs and refugees: the Afghanistan and Central Asian Association

The media – in particular the tabloids – has a tendency to label asylum seekers ‘scroungers’. Asylum seekers and refugees are painted as embodying the antithesis of ‘British Values’, flooding the country with degenerates who are attempting to game the system (see examples here and here). This narrative has come to the fore as the refugee crisis has mounted. The UN has estimated that 65.3 million people across the globe have been displaced, an all-time high. Thousands of these ended up on the coast of France, at Calais, and the UK watched as the British and French government negotiated the placement of these asylum seekers. The accusations that men from the Calais camp were falsely claiming to be children fanned the flame of an ugly mistrust of those who were throwing themselves on the mercy of the UK for protection.