Background
Rehumanize is a labour of love between a few 20-something young professionals, and members of the asylum-seeking and refugee community in London.
Through photos, maps and stories, we want to showcase the lives behind the labels and explore what life is really like for asylum seekers and refugees. Our project charts their personal journeys to and within the UK, looking at some of the opportunities and challenges people face when trying to build a life here.
Rehumanize is a finalist in the 2017 Koreo national story-telling prize, focusing on the United Nations Development Programme goal of ‘social mobility’.
Our ultimate vision is for Britain to be a country where refugees and asylum seekers are supported to achieve their potential and recover from their past trauma.
Balancing the scales
Through story-telling, rehumanize hopes to give voice to the seldom heard refugee and asylum-seeking community, countering some of the sensationalised political and media rhetoric which all too often speaks for them.
Many of us cannot imagine being forced to leave family and friends for another country, without the right to live or work there — yet it is a reality for refugees. The word forced is important; no one chooses to seek asylum. Not only is becoming a refugee not a choice, it is emotionally, and often physically, taxing.
Despite the arduous journeys many take to the UK, the way forward once here is no easier. Asylum seekers are treated with suspicion, the onus being on them to exhaustively prove the legitimacy of their claim. For those who manage to do so, support and guidance is minimal and social mobility a huge issue.
We hope to increase awareness and shift public opinion toward greater empathy and support for asylum seekers and refugees in the UK. Illustrating these journeys can inform charities and policy makers alike in improving the social mobility of a group often denied so much that we take for granted.
Debunking the myths
We thought that before delving into the stories told here it would be productive to set some common misconceptions straight, here are our refugee and asylum seeker FAQs;
What's the difference between a legal and illegal asylum seeker? There isn't one, it is never illegal to seek asylum, and while a person's case is being reviewed they have the right to remain in the UK.
Isn't Europe being inundated with the world's refugees? Not exactly, 80% of the world's refugees are being housed in developing countries.
Sure, but aren't most refugees and asylum seekers in Europe coming to the UK? Nope, of the more than 1 million people that came to Europe seeking refuge, the UK received 38,000 asylum applications.
Don't asylum seekers get first pick on housing? No, asylum seekers are allocated accommodation on a separate system, meaning they aren't increasing competition, and get very little choice in where that is.
Don't most refugees and asylum seekers come here for our benefits and not to work? There's no basis for this view. The law doesn't allow people to work before they are granted the right to live here, however many are skilled and if their applications are successful go on to contribute significantly to the economy.
Isn't the UK quite soft on asylum seekers and refugees, that's what encourages them? Not at all, after the emotional and physical upheaval of leaving home, all asylum seekers have to be photographed and fingerprinted; report to immigration centres regularly; and can be detained at any point during their application - this includes pregnant women and children.
Given the high prejudicial odds stacked against those who seek refuge in the UK, we hope that these personal stories will fuel reflection and empathy, paving the way for a more balanced national debate and supportive policies.