Expanding borders, contracting humanitarianism

Abstract

The EU is facing its biggest refugee-based humanitarian crisis since World War Two. This paper reviews UK government’s policy position on Europe’s refugee crisis against its ‘tradition of humanitarianism.’ Britain has historically idealised itself as sanctuary to the persecuted and those at risk. We trace Britain’s tradition of sanctuary over time through policy enactments and argue that the past provides a myth to imagine the nation but the UK has veered away from the humanitarian challenges confronting the world today. In terms of the present refugee crisis, UK’s tepid response is in tandem with the deep tensions and polarisation the issue of immigration raises within the nation-state. In view of this, the UK has adopted a highly restrictive policy towards the refugee and the asylum seeker through a series of policies which seek to delegitimise the refugees, enacting tighter barriers to entry and casting them as economic migrants and as suspect figures in a post 9/11 world where there is a distinct endeavour to constrict the provision of sanctuary in the UK.