If you were forced to choose between staying in a conflict zone or putting your life in the hands of ruthless human traffickers to escape – what would you do?
An asylum charity is asking people to consider the choices made by thousands of refugees every day with a twist on the “would you rather…” game.
Asylum Aid’s quiz – which you can take below – starts off with light-hearted questions, asking whether people would rather be invisible or able to fly, for example, but takes a dark turn when the questions get tougher.
“Would you rather marry a complete stranger or be forced to have sex with one?” it asks. That is the choice Isis hands to women from some religious minorities in Iraq – convert and marry or become a sex slave.
Another asks if people would prefer to undergo genital mutilation or refuse and never see their family again after being ostracised, while other questions deal with the potentially deadly methods of crossing Europe.
All of the choices are among those made by migrants and refugees being helped by Asylum Aid in the UK, where the charity works to protect people seeking refuge from persecution and human rights abuses.
It provides free legal advice and representation to asylum seekers, while lobbying for a human rights-based system in Britain.
Take the quiz below:
Zoe Gardner, a spokesperson for Asylum Aid, told The Independent that the charity wants people to understand the terrible choices refugees are forced to make.
“We want to challenge these accusations of ‘cherry pickers’ and ‘queue jumpers’ and make people think about what it means to choose to leave everything behind,” she added.
“There are so many risks from traffickers – of violence and rape and extortion – but people don’t have a choice.
“They put themselves in that dangerous situation because they are fleeing another kind of harm.”
