Asylum Seekers Quotes

“As a child refugee who grew up in exile, I can tell you that life in exile is by far one of the most heart-wrenching, gruesome and mind-bending things anyone can experience.

Twenty years into this journey, I am still coming to terms with it...”
― TellurianWrites

“The ideal of the rule of law, along with equality under the law, is one of the bases of tolerance. It means that, one way or another, governments themselves must act in accordance with the law- a responsibility they sometimes try to evade. The treatment of asylum seekers in Australia is an example, where successive Commonwealth governments have produced a series of changes to the law. In a liberal-democratic society the rule of law also means that there must be open discussion about those laws and how they are being upheld in the courts. It also means predictability- known rules about the relationship between people and governments, and in certain matters, between individuals. It is intended to mean fairness - no one should be condemned unheard, and hearings must be carried out openly by courts or tribunals as independent of governments as possible. (In their wars against asylum seekers, governments have shuffled procedures around as if they were fairground illusionists.)”
― Donald Horne, 10 Steps to a More Tolerant Australia

“If I say that I’m educated and was jobless in Dhaka, that I want to work here, build myself a healthy, beautiful life, the kind of life that everyone dreams of, they’d just throw me out of the country. Political asylum they may just allow, but economical asylum - never!”
― Taslima Nasrin, French Lover

“A refugee saved is a world saved.”
― Abhijit Naskar, The Gentalist: There's No Social Work, Only Family Work

“As a Gurs inmate remarked to an American consul: "To you, we are just numbers. To us, you are the god who has the right to open the gates of the promised land or keep shut that door and condemn us to despair.”
― Michael Dobbs, The Unwanted: America, Auschwitz, and a Village Caught In Between

“The children translate for the parents ... They are their parents' conduit to the new world.”
― Suzanne O'Sullivan, The Sleeping Beauties: And Other Stories of Mystery Illness

“The [asylum-seeking] children are embodying a sociocultural phenomenon. Their story has been written across nations, in a combination that has made them unique. It has been impacted by poor social circumstances, poor nutrition, epigenetics, abusers, authority figures, politicians, parents, doctors and the media.”
― Suzanne O'Sullivan, The Sleeping Beauties: And Other Stories of Mystery Illness

“If you run away without looking back when you see a danger, you will only save yourself, not your honour! The same thing will happen if you run away when there are dangerous developments in your country!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

“All of us inpatient for the sunrise, all of us in dread of it. All of us in search of home.”
― Khaled Hosseini, Sea Prayer