There are approximately 448,600 refugees in the UK, which makes up 0.6% percentage of the UK population! At the end of March 2024, 118,329 people were still waiting for a decision for their asylum claim. For context, 210,000 people go to Glastonbury Festival every year.

To help put these numbers into perspective, the UK has issued 262,700 visas to Ukrainians and 113,742 to people from Hong Kong. In comparison, 11,500 people have arrived in the UK under the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme. This complicated and near impossible system for Afghans fleeing persecution, to obtain a safe route to the UK, is an example of why so many are falling victim to people smugglers and risking their lives on boats to reach the UK.

A refugee is a person who has been officially recognised as needing to flee their country of origin and is unable or unwilling to return because of a well-founded fear of being persecuted because of their race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion. A person seeking asylum is somebody who has applied for the same protection but is waiting to hear if their application will be granted in line with the above criteria.

Safety is a feeling and can be different for different people in different places. Safety is emotional as well as physical. Often people feel unsafe in countries that we might consider to be safe for most people. If you've been regularly attacked and had your belongings repeatedly destroyed by authorities in France, then you don’t feel safe and so keep searching for safety elsewhere.

It also makes no sense that just because we’re further west of most of Europe that we should shun our international responsibility and insist all refugees stay in the first country that we decide is ‘safe’ for them. Of all refugees globally, only a tiny percentage seek refuge in the UK. Those that do seek safety here, might choose to do so because they already have family here, or because they speak the language – our colonial history is one of the reasons that English is spoken in many countries. For refugees who have already gone through so much, retaining some agency about where they rebuild their lives is important.

Of all refugees globally, only a  tiny percentage  seek refuge in the UK. The UK Government are intentionally vilifying a small minority of people to distract from their own failings. They have manufactured a crisis by allowing a huge backlog of asylum claims to build up and are using dangerous, misleading, and inflammatory language as a campaign tool.

Waiting times for claims to be processed have increased  eighteen-fold  since 2010 and  68% of people seeking asylum are now waiting more than six months for their claim to be processed which not only has a detrimental impact on people’s health while they are trapped in this limbo but also means the accommodation costs for people seeking asylum have also increased. Whilst waiting for their claims to be processed, people are also banned from working which doesn’t make any sense. The UK Government could lift this ban right now, which would allow people to earn their own money and contribute an estimated  £333 million to the UK economy each year.

There are so many ways to support refugees and people seeking asylum in your local community. We’d recommend looking for grassroots initiatives that offer the opportunity get involved at a community level through fundraising, volunteering or even mentoring refugees. Checking out this page by Refugee Action is a great place to start!

At Ben & Jerry’s, we’ve always stood up for issues that matter to us, led by our guiding principles of fairness and equality. We’ve championed a fair few issues over the years to advance opportunity and justice for marginalised communities all over the globe including LGBTQIA+ rights, climate justice, and working to protect and advance the rights of people seeking a safe place to call home.