JEREMY CORBYN argues that beneath the right-wing lies is a story of poverty and tragedy
THERE will be an important debate in the Commons on Wednesday morning over the campaign to allow migrants existing in the shadows of society to become fully fledged British citizens.
It's an important step on the road for a campaign that is backed by many trade unions and church groups, all of which are alarmed at the way that people are trying to survive in Britain without any legal status.
As a result, they are driven into poverty and exploited in major cities up and down the country, particularlyin London.
The true horror of the marginalised life that people lead in the relatively affluent West was driven home by the tragic deaths of Chinese cockle pickers in Morecambe Bay, but it comes to the fore again and again in the many stories regarding the treatment of migrant agricultural workers by gangmasters and unscrupulous mployers, as well as the murky world of migrant domestic workers in the homes of well-off people in the more salubrious parts of our big cities.
This week is also refugee awareness week, which is designed to help spread the facts about why some people are forced to seek asylum and the enormous contribution that is made to our economy by people who have migrated here.
The fascist British National Party, Daily Mail and Daily Express frequently exaggerate the number of asylum applicants and fail to acknowledge either the reasons behind their application or the success that they bring once they've settled. It's important to gain some accurate information about the actual numbers involved.
The high point of asylum applicants was 2004, when there were 33,000. That number has since fallen considerably. By comparison, 90 million people visit the UK in any one year and there are some 300,000 students studying legally in Britain.
Most asylum applicants are refused at the initial stage. During the perfectly legal period of appeal, applicants are denied access to any benefits or the right to work. They therefore live in dreadful poverty, often relying on charities, churches or people from the same immigrant community to support them.
Britain is actually home to less than 3 per cent of the 10 million refugees who exist around the world and is not even in the top 10 of European countries in terms of receiving asylum-seekers.
In fact, the biggest burden falls on the poorest countries in the world - Africa and Asia look after 60 per cent of the world's refugees, many of whom lead desperately sad lives within inadequate camps, with only limited resources being provided by the United Nations.
The inhabitants of these camps are the victims of wars and injustices around the world, from Nepal to Sri Lanka, Somalia, Congo and Sudan.
The conflict in Sudan alone has forced four million people to leave their own homes. Many of them have fled to very poor neighbouring countries such as Chad.
Conflict in Iraq has driven two million people from their homes and a considerable number are now living a very precarious life in either Jordan or Syria.
With the direction of the conflict in Afghanistan, it is likely that, once again, Pakistan will play host to Afghan refugees.
The concept of asylum is enshrined in the 1951 Geneva convention, which requires signatory nations to grant a place of safety to people in genuine fear of persecution for political social or religious reasons.
Every few years, various proposals are made to amend or remove this protection from the convention, on the grounds that many migrants are "economic" rather than "political."
While the media in Britain chooses to emphasise wholly negative arguments about refugees, the reality is very different.
Recently, The Independent ran a large photo on the front page of 15 people clinging desperately to a fishing net off the coast of the Mediterranean for fear of drowning. The vessel had refused to allow them on board.
Eventually, this hapless group did make it to land and could then apply for asylum. Tragically, many people do not make it and drown either in the Mediterranean or in flimsy boats while trying to make the crossing from Senegal to the Canary Islands.
Often, the public are anaesthetised against what is simply an act of human survival by lurid stories of asylum-seekers sponging off our economy.
But most asylum-seekers want to work, contribute and to achieve. For example, a Department of Work and Pensions survey based on a sample of asylum-seekers found that a very large number either had partial or complete higher education qualifications and that those who didn't were very keen to pursue further education and work as quickly as they could once they had been granted indefinite leave to remain.
The list of famous people who migrated to Britain and made huge achievements reads like a who's who of business, literature, science and health.
Political turmoil brought about by economic greed and extreme nationalism has driven millions of people from their own homes.
Refugee week gives us the opportunity to understand the contributions that refugees make wherever they go. It also allows us to reflect on the economic and foreign policy decisions that encourage the flow of refugees instead of dealing with the issues of political oppression and economic misery which lie at the very heart of the issue.
Britain silent on Palestine complicity GERALD Kaufman put an urgent notice question in Parliament on Monday regarding the tragedy in Gaza.
Foreign Office Minister Kim Howells used the opportunity to confirm that the British government will not recognise any Palestinian government that includes Hamas. He went on to defend the refusal to aid the Palestinianian Authority over the past year and to allow Israel to refuse to hand over legitimate Palestinian tax funds.
I asked Howells to recognise the origins of the tragedy in Gaza as stemming from the policy of the quartet of Russia, the US, EU and UN towards Palestine since the parliamentary elections.
Gazans face 70 per cent unemployment, poverty at sub-Saharan African levels and cannot travel anywhere beyond the razor wire entanglements that surround this virtual prison camp.
Fighting between Hamas forces, which have generally been supported by Iran, and Fatah forces, which have been armed by the US, is a bloody tragedy for the ordinary people of Palestine.
The division of Palestine into the West Bank and Gaza is not a solution for the Palestinian people and will only lead to further killing and injustice.
Mustafa Barghouti of the Palestine National Initiative was minister of information in the national unity government up until the weekend. He refused to serve in the new administration appointed by President Abbas and has called for a process to allow new elections to be held.
Unless these take place, it is very hard to see how the arrangements of President Abbas to bypass parliament with an emergency government headed by a former World Bank official can be expected to have any legitimacy.
Jeremy Corbyn is Labour MP for Islington North.
