Protection for refugees has been enshrined in international law for more than seven decades, but how much support is there today for those fleeing conflict and persecution?
Why this matters
- Most people still support the right to seek asylum
- Resettlement numbers decrease massively
- Misinformation has not eroded public compassion
- The Refugee Convention marks 75 years of protection
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Unveiling new data on Tuesday, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said that despite a growing volume of fake news and hate speech about asylum seekers, public support for refugees is stronger than public debate often suggests.
This support has remained broadly stable for years, “despite political tension, economic pressure, and as you all know very well, a very polarized debate“, said Dominique Hyde, UNHCR’s Director of External Relations.
Together with pollster Ipsos, the agency found that two in three people across 29 countries agreed that those fleeing war or persecution should be able to seek refuge in another country.
Double vision
At the same time, around the same number believe that many of those seeking protection do not really need it. “Many of these people are the same people; they hold both views at the same time,” said Trinh Tu, Managing Director of Ipsos UK.
“What we see at the moment is a tension between people wanting to support those in desperate need at the same time as having doubts about whether the system is working as it should,” in particular, asylum systems, border management and integration, Ms. Tu explained.
Generous to a fault
This perspective seems to prevail in the UK, where “we’ve got the lowest net migration in Britain, but at the same time, half of the population thinks that actually immigration has gone mad“, even though the facts show otherwise, she added.
In Germany and Sweden, where refugee intake is “quite sizeable”, UNHCR’s Ms. Hyde noted that support for asylum seekers remains relatively strong. In Türkiye and Poland, support is not as strong as in previous years.
I sat with mothers, I sat with fathers who had barely enough to eat
The veteran humanitarian official insisted on the need for continued international support for asylum seekers, citing the difficulties many countries face trying to host tens of thousands of people fleeing conflict. “Generosity cannot replace this international responsibility,” Ms. Hyde stressed.
She described visiting Busuma camp in eastern Burundi, which shelters more than 57,000 Congolese refugees who have fled intense fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Only around four in 10 people had somewhere to stay, despite the harsh conditions at 2,000 metres.
“I sat with mothers, I sat with fathers who had barely enough to eat,” Ms. Hyde said. “I listened to families describe their overcrowded shelters, if they were lucky enough to have a shelter. I spoke to families about how unsafe they felt the water was. And not just unsafe, not sufficient. And nights spent, in exposed cold because it was at 2000 metres of altitude, and in the day, just sheer heat.”
Boomers’ worry
Of the more than 21,500 people surveyed, younger respondents are far more positive about refugees than Baby Boomers.
Almost half of Gen Z (born 1997 – 2012) believe that refugees will successfully integrate, compared with 39 per cent of Baby Boomers (1946 -1964).
“Gen Z respondents were less likely to support border closures or express doubts about refugees’ motivations. Even so, concerns about integration, border management and the authenticity of asylum claims remained to some degree across age groups,” UNHCR said.
Supporting role
The UNHCR-Ipsos survey indicated that support for refugees is strongest in Sweden and the Netherlands (78 per cent), followed by Spain (76 per cent). Australia, Brazil and the United States expressed the most positive views on the benefits of refugee integration.
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Some countries showed distinct shifts over time, including in Japan, where support for people seeking refuge rose to 64 per cent from 23 per cent in 2019, and in France, where it has climbed to 68 per cent from 43 per cent over the same period.
When asked about specific displacement situations and how they would prefer to respond, people prioritized direct emergency assistance, alongside diplomatic action and temporary protection.
The findings suggest that many people believe that refugee protection should include more alternatives than resettlement, although this remains a vital protection pathway for the most vulnerable refugees, 75 years after the Refugee Convention was adopted in Geneva.
“What we know is that many people support the right to seek safety while also questioning whether asylum systems are fair, efficient, and properly managed,” said Ms. Hyde. “This is an important message for this anniversary, 75 years on, the challenge is not only to defend the Convention, but also to make sure that the promise works.”