Guest blog by Migrants’ Rights Network for World Refugee Day, originally published here on June 20, 2023
World Refugee Day
Our approach to refugee advocacy must not fall into the trap of single-issue politics. In this blog post, we unpick the language of “refugee” through an intersectional lens.
Forgotten refugees
This World Refugee Day, we want to draw attention to the forgotten refugees of the world, including Palestinians, Sudanis, Syrians, Iraqis and those from the Global South. Refugees who are racialised and suffering the legacies of (settler) colonialism and imperialism are often neglected, and their plight is ignored by European society. We must remember the colonial causes of displacement, and centre the stories of those who are often left out of the conversation, including Muslim refugees and refugees with disabilities.
At MRN, we look at migration through an intersectional lens, because we cannot understand the movement of people without an understanding of how people experience compounded forms of oppression beyond citizenship status.
Queering “refugee”
How do we stand in solidarity with refugees, especially during Pride Month? We must recognise the unique struggles of queer refugees, and the specific intersections of refugee status and queerness.
But queer theory can also allow us to expand our understanding of who gets to even count as a refugee in the first place. If queerness is an orientation defiant of mainstream norms, definitions and ways of understanding the world, we can queer the label of “refugee”, and open this definition up to include those who are often left behind.
How can we queer the label of “refugee”? Before we can expand our understanding of who counts as a refugee, we need to familiarise ourselves with what “refugee” actually means.
As the label of “refugee” is used to denote a person whose asylum claim has been recognised, it excludes many who do not meet this criteria. We think it is important to include undocumented migrants, asylum seekers, and those whose claims have not been recognised through our refugee advocacy, since those who are barred from receiving the extra legal and societal protections afforded to refugees are denied this protection due to arbitrary legal thresholds and criteria.
The label of “refugee” also does not commonly include those who have been internally displaced, since it is focused on those who are displaced across internationally recognised borders. However, the stories of internally displaced people also deserve our attention, despite the absence of an internationally recognised border being crossed.
We must think about who gets the protection of being formally recognised as a “refugee”, and how this is reflective of racial hierarchies that denote some people as more worthy of protection and respect, and others as deserving of dehumanisation. We must think about how the legal category of “refugee” can be used to silence, dismiss and ostracise those who are deemed as “illegitimate”, “unworthy” or “ungenuine”, and how this reinforces an idea of humanity centred on Whiteness.
Forgotten stories
Read on to hear more about stories that are often forgotten and sidelined in mainstream refugee advocacy.
- The key symbolises the right of return for Palestinian refugees. Palestinians have been displaced by settler colonialism since the creation of Israel/ start of the Nakba in 1948.
- Protester campaigning for justice for asylum seekers in Cyprus, calling for solidarity through drawing attention to the fact that Cypriot refugees were welcomed in Africa in 1974. The Cypriot conflict was brought about by British divide and rule, culminating in a Greek coup and Turkish invasion.
- Protests in London calling for safe routes for refugees and asylum seekers, and against the Government’s dehumanising anti-migrant policies.
- Indigenous people in the USA have long protested the settler colonial Government’s dehumanising treatment of refugees.
- Aanchal with her grandmother Bhag Malhotraand look over old Partition documents. Bhag was made into a refugee after India was partitioned, and had to flee to Delhi. This echoes the stories of many who were displaced during the Partition. British divide and rule fomented conflict between Hindus and Muslims, and precipitated the Partition.
- People protesting in Istanbul against Turkey’s crackdown on refugees. The UK and the West have long evaded their responsibility towards Syrian refugees despite their role in the displacement of Syrians.
- Protests near Gatwick against the UK’s decision to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda.
- Protests against Home Office accommodation for asylum seekers
- Protestors in Tunis show their solidarity with Black migrants, refugees and asylum seekers after the Tunisian president’s racist remarks.
Read the blog here.