Living in the UK at the moment, I find myself overwhelmed with empathy not only for those who are made to feel unsafe by such overt and flagrant displays, of what should only be characterised as a shift towards ‘ultra-nationalism’, but also for those who have been grossly misled by their own dissatisfaction to feed into the scapegoating an entire section of our long-integrated British society.
Sophie Watt, a researcher from the University of Sheffield who specialises in migration, highlighted “the economic precarity which persists in the United Kingdom”, quoting that “22 percent of the population lives in poverty and cannot make ends meet”. She continued, “There is a media construct around the migrant that serves as a diversion for the government. When people are interested in migrants as they are portrayed in the media, they turn away from the causes of the decline in their standard of living”1. Whilst poverty is an absolute and undeniable issue within the UK, economic precarity should never excuse the behaviours and opinions that have been blasted throughout our media. It is so easy to forget that at the centre of this overwhelming discourse remains human beings. Whilst people deserve an outlet to express genuine dissatisfaction, blatant scapegoating and intimidation come at a cost. The UK’s ‘Refugee Council’ often portrays the true feelings and sentiments behind those seeking asylum and actively works towards improving their quality and standards of living. A case study launched by the campaign followed Muhammad, from Afghanistan, who spent six months in an asylum hotel until being granted asylum formally. He discussed how people often film residents without permission, and that, inside the hotels, there are incredibly intelligent people who are left feeling despondent about the process and being unable to work and contribute2.
Quite centrally, however, a largely overlooked aspect of the asylum hotels is the innocent children who live there. The ‘Refugee Council’ consulted the report ‘Lost Childhoods: The consequences of flawed age assessments at the UK border’ written by a coalition of over 100 UK and International organisations. It revealed that, across 63 local authorities in England and Scotland, 603 referrals were received from various stakeholders in the first half of 2024, who suspected young people were being wrongly placed in adult accommodation or detention due to inaccurate Home Office age assessments. In 493 of these cases, over half of them were found to actually be children. Horrifyingly, children who were wrongly viewed as adults are at risk of being convicted for crimes ranging from illegal entry or facilitating illegal entry, some even being held in adult prisons3. Furthermore, these children have already been displaced by war, persecution, and unsafe circumstances, meaning that their health needs can be especially high.
An issue published in ‘The Lancet’ describes that, as a host country, we do have a duty to respond to these needs, yet we are infrequently seeing a rise in restrictive and hostile migration practices. There is a huge disparity in research as to what extent the role racism and xenophobia have on children migrant health inequities, but we do know enough to discern that these sentiments on interpersonal, institutional and structural levels are profound in determining overall health status and are associated with an increase in infectious and non-communicable diseases4. It’s time for children to be heard, and to be protected. Adil, who arrived from Afghanistan at the age of 16 expressed to ‘Refugee Council’ that there were many children arriving from war-torn countries, thus meaning they all look very different. Eventually the social worker he was assigned accepted his age and he was allowed to be put with young people5.
Certainly, one common sentiment between recent protestors and their opposition is that when dealing with children, the largest amount of effort should be expressed towards protecting and safeguarding their interests. Nevertheless, so much hostility and judgment are put towards the children who arrived here seeking refuge. It’s time for people to truly reflect, show compassion and focus on protecting all our nation’s youth.
Footnotes
- Dumont, Julia. 2025. ‘Asylum Seekers in the UK Scapegoated amid Economic Precarity’, InfoMigrants (Infomigrants) <https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/66898/asylum-seekers-in-the-uk-scapegoated-amid-economic-precarity> [accessed 16 October 2025] ↩︎
- Elton, Lottie. 2025. ‘Could the UK Government End Use of Asylum Hotels by 2026?’, Big Issue <https://www.bigissue.com/news/social-justice/end-use-of-asylum-hotels-2026-refugee-council> [accessed 16 October 2025] ↩︎
- Council, Refugee. 2024. ‘Children at Risk in “Deeply Flawed” System – Refugee Council’, Refugee Council <https://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/press-office/media-centre/children-at-risk-in-deeply-flawed-system> [accessed 16 October 2025] ↩︎
- Stevens, Amy J, Yamina Boukari, Sonora English, Ayesha Kadir, Bernadette N Kumar, and others. 2024. ‘Discriminatory, Racist and Xenophobic Policies and Practice against Child Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Undocumented Migrants in European Health Systems’, the Lancet Regional Health. Europe, 41 (Elsevier BV): 100834–34 <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lanepe.2023.100834> ↩︎
- Council, Refugee. 2024. ‘Children at Risk in “Deeply Flawed” System – Refugee Council’, Refugee Council <https://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/press-office/media-centre/children-at-risk-in-deeply-flawed-system> [accessed 16 October 2025] ↩︎
Bibliography
Council, Refugee. 2024. ‘Children at Risk in “Deeply Flawed” System – Refugee Council’, Refugee Council <https:/www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/press-office/media-centre/children-at-risk-in-deeply-flawed-system/> [accessed 16 October 2025]
Dumont, Julia. 2025. ‘Asylum Seekers in the UK Scapegoated amid Economic Precarity’, InfoMigrants (Infomigrants) <https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/66898/asylum-seekers-in-the-uk-scapegoated-amid-economic-precarity> [accessed 16 October 202
Elton, Lottie. 2025. ‘Could the UK Government End Use of Asylum Hotels by 2026?’, Big Issue <https://www.bigissue.com/news/social-justice/end-use-of-asylum-hotels-2026-refugee-council/> [accessed 16 October 2025]
Stevens, Amy J, Yamina Boukari, Sonora English, Ayesha Kadir, Bernadette N Kumar, and others. 2024. ‘Discriminatory, Racist and Xenophobic Policies and Practice against Child Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Undocumented Migrants in European Health Systems’, the Lancet Regional Health. Europe, 41 (Elsevier BV): 100834–34 <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lanepe.2023.100834>