Tony Kushner - Refugees in an Age of Genocide: Global, National and Local Perspectives During the Twentieth Century

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REFUGEES IN AN AGE OF GENOCIDE

REFUGEES
IN AN AGE OF
GENOCIDE

Global, National and Local Perspectives
during the Twentieth Century

TONY KUSHNER
and
KATHARINE KNOX

FRANK CASS
LONDON PORTLAND, OR

First published in 1999 in Great Britain by
FRANK CASS
2 Park Square, Milton Park,
Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

and in the United States of America by
FRANK CASS
270 Madison Ave,
New York NY 10016

Website www.frankcass.com

Copyright 1999 Tony Kushner and Katharine Knox
Reprinted in 2001

Transferred to Digital Printing 2005

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Kushner, Tony

Refugees in an age of genocide: global, national and local perspectives during the twentieth century
1. Refugees 2. Refugees History 20th century
I. Title II. Knox, Katharine
325.21

ISBN 0 7146 4783 7 (cloth)
ISBN 0 7146 4341 6 (paper)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Kushner, Tony (Antony Robin Jeremy)

Refugees in an age of genocide: global, national, and local perspectives during the twentieth century / Tony Kushner and Katharine Knox.
p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-7146-4783-7 (cloth). ISBN 0-7146-4341-6 (paper)
1. Refugees History 20th century. 2. Political refugees History 20th century. 3. Persecution History 20th century. 4. Genocide History 20th century. I. Knox, Katharine,
1972 II. Title.

HV640.K58 1999

362.870904 dc21

9912037
CIP

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher of this book.

Typeset by Joanne Edwards

This book is dedicated to Joseph, a dear friend and colleague, whose decision to return to his war-torn homeland of Sierra Leone has left those of us who knew him bereft of a very warm and courageous person.

He paid the ultimate price in war, giving up the safety of refuge in Britain for an uncertain future in his former country.

In spite of coming from different worlds, we can learn much from those like Joseph to whom we have the courage to extend the hand of friendship. We can help alleviate, at least in part, the suffering endured when people are forced to live in exile.

Contents

List of Illustrations

Cover illustration

Illustrations within text

Plate section

Foreword by Sir Herman Ouseley, Commission for Racial Equality

As I write these words, perhaps the greatest European tragedy since the end of the Second World War is being played out in the Balkans. Our television screens are filled with horrific images of tens of thousands of fleeing Kosovars who have suffered (in that terrible phrase) ethnic cleansing. There is universal public sympathy for the Kosovan refugees, and even the tabloid press has demanded that Britain should play its part by providing a safe haven for thousands.

Yet in contrast to the compassion displayed by the public towards the expelled Kosovars, in recent years the prevailing attitudes towards asylum seekers arriving in the UK have been suspicion and hostility. Public discourse on immigration has been increasingly dominated by the notion of bogus asylum seekers, flooding into Britain to exploit its supposedly generous benefits system or to commit crime. This is exemplified by the reaction to the arrival in Kent in 1997 and 1998 of Roma asylum seekers, which occasioned headlines that the UK was in danger of being swamped with Giro Czechs; attempts (largely unsuccessful) by the National Front to capitalise on the resentment of local people in whose towns the Roma families were being accommodated; and demands for tighter immigration policies to stem the feared flood.

There is, of course, nothing new about such demands. Immigration policy over the last 35 years has been underpinned by a bipartisan consensus that firm immigration control is necessary to preserve race relations. Persistent racist attitudes and overestimates by the public of the size of the ethnic minority population have convinced successive governments that they must reassure public opinion that immigration controls will be firmly enforced. Successive statutes have further reduced the categories, and hence the numbers, of those entitled to enter and remain in the UK, and have created new legal and practical mechanisms to exclude them, discourage them or to control them once admitted. The emphasis in immigration policy on exclusion and control has had a particularly adverse impact upon people from the New Commonwealth and the Third World. That emphasis has been reinforced by the growth of resistance in western Europe to the admittance of new immigrants and asylum seekers, and the recent development of coordinated policies by EU states to strengthen their external borders.

Media reports on immigration policy invariably reinforce negative stereotypes of ethnic minorities: that they are alien, illegal, dishonest and scroungers; there are too many of them; they are a drain on the nations resources, etc. The overall effect is to validate racism and xenophobia, and to undermine positive policies intended to encourage the equal treatment of people from minority communities in the UK. Furthermore, rather than attempt to explain to the public the very restricted scope of present day immigration, governments have tended to seek support for more restrictive policies by highlighting alleged abuses of the system. Far from reassuring the public, this approach encourages sensationalist and racist reports in the media, resulting in further pressure for even harsher restrictions.

The present government has explicitly recognised the important contributions which immigrants have made and continue to make to the economic and cultural life of the UK. It has also, commendably, committed itself to anti-racism, equality of opportunity and social inclusion. In the area of immigration and asylum policy, by contrast, it has shown itself cautious and fearful. The Immigration and Asylum Bill currently before Parliament maintains the emphasis placed by its predecessors on exclusion, control and removal; like them, it is predicated upon the perceived need to restore the confidence of a supposedly racist public in a strict immigration control, its harsh proposals justified by dubious assertions that asylum procedures are widely abused. Unfortunately the government has failed in its responsibility to educate and set examples, and rather than rebut popular misconceptions or challenge bigoted statements, ministers have referred to misleading statistics about refugee recognition rates as evidence of abuse. The fact that an asylum application is ultimately unsuccessful does not mean that it was not made in good faith. Such misrepresentations impugn the honesty of all asylum applicants and harm race relations.

The Bill reflects and will perpetuate the culture of suspicion about asylum seekers which pervades the Home Office. Hence, in the new support system proposed by the Bill, asylum seekers will have no choice where they are accommodated, and will subsist in a parallel economy of vouchers and noncash provision. This, it is claimed, will act as a deterrent to abusive claims. Those dependent on the support system most of whom will be from racial groups which are minorities in the UK will form a stigmatised and readilyidentifiable underclass in a separate, lesser category than others in need. Undoubtedly these proposals will cause asylum seekers hardship and may place them in physical danger. They may also engender and validate hostility towards ethnic minorities in general.

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