Showing posts with label Books suggested for their asylum related information. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Books suggested for their asylum related information. Show all posts
Χαρταετοί Πάνω απ'την Πόλη ("The Kite Runner")
The Kite Runner (in Greek "Χαρταετοί Πάνω απ'την Πόλη") is a first novel by Afghan American author Khaled Hosseini. Published in 2003, it tells the story of the friendship between Amir, a well-to-do Afghan boy from Kabul, and his closest childhood friend Hassan, the son of his father's Hazara servant. Their relationship is set against the tumultuous events from the fall of the monarchy in Afghanistan through the Soviet invasion, the mass exodus of refugees to Pakistan (and eventually the United States) and the Taliban regime. At the same time, it is the story of Amir's personal redemption as he finally succeeds in making amends with Hassan after he betrayed him years earlier.
Do they hear you when you cry – Fauziya Kassindja and Layli Miller Bashir
“On Thursday they said I'd be married. On Friday they told me they'd cut me. At midnight I escaped.” Read the true, moving story of Fauziya Kassindja, the seventeen year old girl from Togo who fled her country to escape Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and life in a forced polygamous marriage.
After having lost her progressive father, who sheltered her from the brutal tribal practices, Fauziya fled her village in Togo and made her way to the U.S. in 1994, where she sought asylum; only to have her hopes for freedom failed. On arrival to the US, she was put in detention where she remained for 18 months before being finally granted asylum on the basis of gender-based persecution. It took a lot of strength derived from her profound faith to endure the new, unexpected form of suffering: Kassindja waited for her initial hearing in prison for over eight months to be falsely denied asylum on grounds of lack credibility. She remained in prison for a total of 18 months, during which she broke down and asked to be sent back to Togo to escape the nightmare she was going through in prison. In prison she was strip-searched, put in chains, put in solitary confinement for over two weeks after being misdiagnosed with tuberculosis, and housed in a maximum-security prison with violent criminals with her health deteriorating dangerously.
With the help of a cousin living in the US and a dedicated law student named Layli Miller Bashir, Kassindja obtained legal representation and prevented her eventual deportation. Bashir along with high profile FGM activists initiated a huge legal battle to free Kassindja and grant her asylum.
On June 13, 1996, Kassindja and her legal team won a landmark case that created the precedence for all seeking asylum in the US on the grounds of gender-based persecution.
An estimated 70 million girls and women living today have been subjected to FGM mostly in Africa. FGM, which is practiced in 28 African countries, ranges from cutting off part or all of a girl’s external genitalia. FGM is commonly performed by a village woman who specializes in the practice using knives, razor blades, and pieces of broken glass under unsanitary conditions and with no anesthesia. It can result in death through severe bleeding leading to hemorrhagic shock, neurogenic shock as a result of pain and trauma, and severe, overwhelming infection and septicaemia. Many girls enter a state of shock induced by the severe pain, psychological trauma and exhaustion from screaming.
It is today an established principle that FGM is a fundamental violation of the rights of girls. It is discriminatory and violates the rights to equal opportunities, health, freedom from violence, injury, abuse, torture and cruel or inhuman and degrading treatment, protection from harmful traditional practices, and to make decisions concerning reproduction. It is also an established principle of refugee law that a girl or woman seeking asylum because she has been compelled to undergo, or is likely to be subjected to FGM, can qualify for refugee status under the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees.
While FGM is illegal in many of the practicing countries, still more than one third of the women are circumcised and in some ethnic groups almost each and every young woman is subjected to the cut.
Apart from illustrating the injustice faced by millions of women in the world and the need to grant those women protection once they arrive in our doorstep, the book is an eye opener in many other respects. It’s also the story of dedicated, wonderful and talented individuals who made their own sacrifices in order to provide to Fauziya the most efficient legal support she could have ever received; had they not been so wholeheartedly involved she would have been sent back to her home country, probably facing an even worse nightmare than the one she escaped. The legal battles undertaken by the human rights activists were determinative in saving not only Fauziya’s life but setting the precedence for other women with similar horrible fates. This is a book that any asylum practitioner should read to see how careful one should be in adjudicating the credibility of an asylum claimant – how lack of multicultural awareness can easily lead to a conclusion that a claim seems “implausible” and hence to the rejection of an asylum claimant, such as Fauziya.
Above all, this is a book about the suffering of any refugee: the pain of separation from family and home, the loneliness of exile and often the unfair treatment refugees receive in reaching a third country seeking refuge. It’s also an eye opener for those who question the need for a fair and efficient asylum system and for those who perceive all asylum seekers as abusers of the system.
It’s a book that will not leave any reader untouched!
After having lost her progressive father, who sheltered her from the brutal tribal practices, Fauziya fled her village in Togo and made her way to the U.S. in 1994, where she sought asylum; only to have her hopes for freedom failed. On arrival to the US, she was put in detention where she remained for 18 months before being finally granted asylum on the basis of gender-based persecution. It took a lot of strength derived from her profound faith to endure the new, unexpected form of suffering: Kassindja waited for her initial hearing in prison for over eight months to be falsely denied asylum on grounds of lack credibility. She remained in prison for a total of 18 months, during which she broke down and asked to be sent back to Togo to escape the nightmare she was going through in prison. In prison she was strip-searched, put in chains, put in solitary confinement for over two weeks after being misdiagnosed with tuberculosis, and housed in a maximum-security prison with violent criminals with her health deteriorating dangerously.
With the help of a cousin living in the US and a dedicated law student named Layli Miller Bashir, Kassindja obtained legal representation and prevented her eventual deportation. Bashir along with high profile FGM activists initiated a huge legal battle to free Kassindja and grant her asylum.
On June 13, 1996, Kassindja and her legal team won a landmark case that created the precedence for all seeking asylum in the US on the grounds of gender-based persecution.
An estimated 70 million girls and women living today have been subjected to FGM mostly in Africa. FGM, which is practiced in 28 African countries, ranges from cutting off part or all of a girl’s external genitalia. FGM is commonly performed by a village woman who specializes in the practice using knives, razor blades, and pieces of broken glass under unsanitary conditions and with no anesthesia. It can result in death through severe bleeding leading to hemorrhagic shock, neurogenic shock as a result of pain and trauma, and severe, overwhelming infection and septicaemia. Many girls enter a state of shock induced by the severe pain, psychological trauma and exhaustion from screaming.
It is today an established principle that FGM is a fundamental violation of the rights of girls. It is discriminatory and violates the rights to equal opportunities, health, freedom from violence, injury, abuse, torture and cruel or inhuman and degrading treatment, protection from harmful traditional practices, and to make decisions concerning reproduction. It is also an established principle of refugee law that a girl or woman seeking asylum because she has been compelled to undergo, or is likely to be subjected to FGM, can qualify for refugee status under the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees.
While FGM is illegal in many of the practicing countries, still more than one third of the women are circumcised and in some ethnic groups almost each and every young woman is subjected to the cut.
Apart from illustrating the injustice faced by millions of women in the world and the need to grant those women protection once they arrive in our doorstep, the book is an eye opener in many other respects. It’s also the story of dedicated, wonderful and talented individuals who made their own sacrifices in order to provide to Fauziya the most efficient legal support she could have ever received; had they not been so wholeheartedly involved she would have been sent back to her home country, probably facing an even worse nightmare than the one she escaped. The legal battles undertaken by the human rights activists were determinative in saving not only Fauziya’s life but setting the precedence for other women with similar horrible fates. This is a book that any asylum practitioner should read to see how careful one should be in adjudicating the credibility of an asylum claimant – how lack of multicultural awareness can easily lead to a conclusion that a claim seems “implausible” and hence to the rejection of an asylum claimant, such as Fauziya.
Above all, this is a book about the suffering of any refugee: the pain of separation from family and home, the loneliness of exile and often the unfair treatment refugees receive in reaching a third country seeking refuge. It’s also an eye opener for those who question the need for a fair and efficient asylum system and for those who perceive all asylum seekers as abusers of the system.
It’s a book that will not leave any reader untouched!
"A Thousand splendid suns", by Khaled Hosseini. 2007
Find out why they left country and why they came back.
"What is the what" by Dave Eggers. Vintage Books, New York 2007
This is the extraordinarily intense human story of a 5-6 year old boy separated from his family in Sudan's civil war. He trekked across Africa's punishing wilderness with thousands of other children, survived aerial bombardment and attacks by militias and wild animals, ate whatever he could find or nothing at all. Dramatically exhausted, he considered ending his life to end the suffering. Unavoidably the descriptions deeply touch your heart. After years in refugee camps in the neighbouring countries where he exercised his leadership and demonstrated strong sense of responsibility, he was resettled in the USA, where a new and challenging journey begun. His name is Valentino Achak Deng, and in this novel Dave Eggers tells the extraordinary true story of his incredible journey. The writer keeps sense of humour and succeeds in transmitting the endurance and determination that the readers will envy. Finally he encountered impressive solidarity that contributed to his integration in the USA.
Valentino Achak Deng has a web page www.valentinoachackdeng.org where you can find a lot of information on Sudan and the foundation he set up.
"Infidel" by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Pocket Books, 2008
The author of "The Caged Virgin," Ayaan Hirsi Ali, was born in Somalia and, as the daughter of a political leader in the opposition, she spent her childhood and early adulthood in several neighbouring countries. She had no other than to experience the "rituals" of female genital mutilation and the horrors around them. Escaping a forced marriage to a distant cousin she had never met, the author reached the Netherlands where she sought asylum. She brilliantly describes her live as an asylum seeker, as a refugee, and as a person cooperating to help refugees together with the Dutch authorities. Her clear minded descriptions of her surprise when the Dutch authorities were helping her are not to be missed. She was constantly wondering why they were so kind and generous to her and the response she always got was that they were implementing their legal obligations. In accordance with the law, exactly five years later, she obtained citizenship and soon after became a Dutch Parliamentarian. An absolute must to know about asylum standards in an entertaining and thrilling manner.
"A Long Way Gone" by Ishmael Beah. Harper Perennial, 2008
Joyful 12 year old Sierra Leonian was on his way to a talent show in a nearby village when his village and all the surrounding ones were attacked by the rebels. Soon his treasure, some rap cassettes, were exchanged by force by an AK47 gun. After two years he was released to an NGO for a rehabilitation process. When war broke up in the capital of his country he managed his way out of the country. Ishmael lives now in New York where he found a foster mother to sponsor him. He has now finished university. The book became a best seller in the USA. "Everyone in the world should read this book", The Washington Post says. An intense account of endurance and wisdom.
"Desert Flower" by Waris Dirie. Virago Press, 1999
"Desert Flower", the English translation of the author's name, was a happy child in a Somali nomad family, surrounded by an splendid peaceful nature, camels and goats. Facing at the age of 12 her father's imposition to marry a 60-year-old man who she didn't know, she broke all the rules and ran away. Against all odd, Dessert Flower ended up in London. Her striking refined style and beauty lead her to a career in modelling and as an ardent campaigner against female genital mutilation. Dessert Flower is a Goodwill Embassador of the United Nations and campaigns tirelessly to educate on and oppose Female Genital Mutilation.
"Child Soldier" by China Keitetsi. Souvenir Press Ltd., 2002
When China Keitetsi was years old, she was recruited as an army fighter by a resistence movement. Although for other reasons it can hardly be said that she had a childhood, the little she had of it was completely given away. She was confronted with the cruel reality of war -including systematic rapes, massive shooting of people and being a "nobody". After a long and painful way she succeeded to flee. She was granted asylum and was resettled to Denmark where she started rebuilding her life from the pieces that were left to her, and finally living in peace. But there was still a big part of her life missing - her children. She had to leave them behind in Uganda but found them again with the help of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and now they live with her in Denmark. As part of her psychological recovery treatment she started writing, which resulted in this book. Worldwide 600.000 child soldiers suffer without hope - traumatized for life ... China Keitetsi was one of the few that were strong enough to escape.
"Slave" by Mende Nazer (and Damien Lewis). Virago Press, 2004
At the age of 12, in 1994 Mende was kidnapped in the Nuba mountains in Sudan. She was sold into slavery. In 2000 she managed to win her fears and gather enough determination to scape. She was granted asylum in a European country. This is her the state of mind left with her: "But for me, this freedom is also a terrifying thing. I was captured when I was still a child. I spend my teenage years and my early adulthood in slavery. For all that time, I had no freedom. I was a non-person. I didn't really exist". The coauthor describes her: "... that first time I saw her on the day of her rescue, she was a hunched, petrified, trembling shadow of a human being". Mende campaigns around the world for the eradication of modern slavery.
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