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Thread: We're seeing a lot of numbers thrown around at the moment in regards to #asylumseekers. Unfortunately we are seeing much context to them though. So, in the interests of trying to put some into the debate, here it is. 1/
4,100. The number of migrant crossings in the channel so far this year, about. Now this looks at the outset like a big number. Let's be honest for a lot of people it is. It's more than double the 1,892 crossings in 2019. 2/
For one festival about 200,000 people descend on a farm. That's nearly 50 times the number of asylum seekers we are talking about here, just for a little perspective. It is also, despite how it may be framed, only a fraction of the 155+ thousand people seeking asylum in France 3/
There's no denying that it has increased from last year though. There are good reasons for that. I'm not going to go too heavily into why France may not be a safe country here as I cover that in this previous thread. 4/ https://twitter.com/stand_for_all/status/1292467258221002756?s=20
I will give another number though, 1.600. That's the approximate number of attacks directly against refugees and asylum seekers carried out in Germany in 2019, another "safe country". 5/
There are some truly big numbers in this debate though, which for some reason tend to be skipped over. 79.5million. That's the number of displaced people in the world at the end of 2019. 26million, the number of refugees and 4.2million, the number of asylum seekers. 6/
Some percentages next. 40%, percentage of displaced people who are children. 85%, percentage living in developing countries, 80%, percentage living in countries with acute food shortages. 15%, of displaced people hosted across every developed nation on the planet. 7/
4,100 sounds big. It sounds scary. It's roughly 11% of the current figure for asylum applications in the UK this year. It's 2.7% of the currently being reported 151,070 people seeking asylum in France, so not like everyone is trying to get to the UK. 8/
Where we do have a seriously big number though is with 392million. That's the amount we spend on immigration enforcement, and is liable to keep going up, despite successive government's proving it doesn't work. I wrote a thread here on alternatives. 9/ https://twitter.com/stand_for_all/status/1291761411954221056?s=20
There are smaller numbers which are far scarier. 1,467. the number of recorded fatalities of migrants this year. 38, the number of asylum seekers who suffocated and froze in back of a refrigerated truck last year and one, the picture of a three-year-old boy dead on the shore. 10/
Numbers mean nothing at the best of times without context. They are useful at the moment for the anti-asylum supporters to push their agenda though. It's important to look at all of them and remember that those numbers are people. People trying to reach safety. 11/
