Three weeks ago, a dark – but hopefully very short – chapter in the UK’s history took place. Across the country, our society suffered a wave of racist rioting whipped up by far-right agitators, targeted primarily at refugees and people seeking asylum.
While it is possible to count the physical impact of these events in the assaults and property damage, the mental health impact of what occurred is harder to quantify. It is clear to us though, as an organisation that works to support the mental health of refugees and people seeking asylum through our Voices and Visibility, Elevate (Scotland), and Bridges to Belonging (Wales & N. Ireland) programmes, that the mental health effects are significantly more widespread and will take a long time to heal. The accounts of our partners and our own staff tell us these riots will only serve to worsen an already unconscionable situation in which people seeking asylum are 5 times more likely to have mental health needs than the general population, and less likely to get support.
The recent racist riots have affected not just those communities directly targeted, but refugees and people seeking asylum across the country, as well as racialised communities more generally. Due to the threats and actual violence of the rioters, many of those affected felt scared to leave their homes. People seeking asylum and refugees we work with have experienced an initial sense of shock, followed by confusion and anxiety as people try to understand why this is happening.
We’ve heard from one person seeking asylum whose friend was assaulted in the street by racists involved in the disturbances, and the impact that’s had on them. Another has told us that they no longer feel safe going out for walks in the park since seeing the riots in the news. We know that the people we work with come to this country to feel safe – and some have reflected to us that they now worry what the people they are living alongside think of them and whether they may ever feel safe here again. This fear can lead to withdrawal and isolation from their communities as they seek to avoid further threatening situations.
How did we get here?
What is difficult to understand, however, is how we got here. The causes and impact of these riots are many and complex, and will take years to unpack. But there is one contributory factor that we, as a mental health charity, can very clearly call out today – the use of dehumanising language and discrimination against refugees.
Many of us will remember the shock almost a decade ago when David Cameron referred to a “swarm” of people crossing the channel. There was outrage from across civil society that the then-Prime Minister – who is supposed to uphold the highest standards of public office – had engaged in language akin to politicians from the extreme fringes. In the decade since, the use of this language has only worsened. Last year, former Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, talked of an “invasion” of Britain by people themselves fleeing conflict and suffering.
Over the years, discriminating against people seeking asylum has become commonplace in not only language, but also policy. As a new Prime Minister, fresh from a six year stint as the Home Secretary, Theresa May defended her creation of a “hostile environment” for people coming to the country, which have had a profoundly negative impact on the lives of migrants, including refugees with a right to live in the UK. These policies have led to refugees and people seeking asylum feeling othered by limiting how they interact with essential parts of society such as healthcare and housing.
In turn, these policies became language used to abuse people seeking sanctuary. “Stop the boats” and “send them to Rwanda,” originally policy positions, became favourite chants of the racists.
The blame does not only lie with politicians. Some media outlets have regularly referred to people seeking asylum and refugees, who have an inalienable right to request sanctuary in our country, as “illegals” and other derogatory names. In doing so, they have not only twisted public perception of vulnerable people, but have also harmed many refugees and people seeking asylum’s perceptions of themselves.
Every use of dehumanising language has an impact, whether it is visible or not. We know that one of the building blocks of good mental health is feeling safe in your environment. That sense of safety is the first thing that we seek to build up when we work with refugees and people seeking asylum. But we cannot expect any racialised communities to feel comfortable in the UK when they hear politicians and parts of the media referring to them in a way that implies they are not just unwelcome – but that they are less than other humans. This can be particularly retraumatising when many people seeking asylum and refugees have fled conflict situations in which powerful people seek to demonise certain groups.
The process of seeking asylum is one that itself takes a toll on people’s identity. People seeking asylum and refugees can experience cultural bereavement because of losing their homes, jobs, and families. Feeling isolated from their culture of origin, unaccepted by a new culture and lacking social support can lead people to feel rejection, alienation, and poor self-esteem, all of which are harmful to mental health.
What must happen next?
So, how do we make sure this never happens again?
When the new Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, arrived in July, he promised a “decade of national renewal.” As part of that, we propose that compassion for one another – refugees and people seeking asylum in particular – be central to both the policies the government implements, and the language they use to communicate with us. At the Mental Health Foundation, we will play our part in reminding politicians of the importance of a compassionate, trauma-informed approach to people who have sought sanctuary in our country.
Media outlets must consider the impact on communities vulnerable to hatred when they use the sort of discriminatory language which was echoed by the rioters. They must start reflecting the reality that almost every single person seeking sanctuary wants nothing more than to be safe and contribute to the British economy, culture, and society. They should include the voices of those with lived experience of the asylum system in their reporting. We will do our utmost to convince and support them to tell these stories.
Truly, it has been a horrific decade for the mental health of people seeking asylum in the UK - but it does not have to be this way. These riots must be a wake-up call to embark on the promised national renewal in a way which places human dignity at the heart of everything we do. We must become a country which makes people seeking asylum feel safe again.
Many of us will have felt uplifted by the sight of thousands of counter-protestors, welcoming refugees and outnumbering the agitators. We know that the vast majority of people in this country do not share the values of the rioters. It is now on all of us, but especially leaders in society and the media, to drown out and call out the racist minority, and instead build a Britain that reflects most people’s values – a nation where everyone is treated with compassion and respect.