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erinmp's review against another edition
3.0
I read the hardcover version of this book which, for some reason, is nowhere on here. A very good and detailed look at refugees today. What it means to be a refugee, how a person becomes a refugee, and what other countries are doing about refugees. What was nice about this is that it has a lot of stories about actual refugees--how they came to be refugees and what their lives are like as refugees. And this is what is so heartbreaking. What is worse is that these stories are an unbelievably small fraction of refugees. One thing that I took away from this is that the lives of refugees aren't automatically better if and when they are accepted to new countries--sometimes they are just as bad, but a different kind of bad. The saddest thing that I was aware of before but reinforced to a great degree in the book, is that so many countries don't really understand refugees. They don't or can't comprehend the horrors these people have endured; the lives and families they have had to leave behind; the people close to them killed in front of the survivor. But most countries don't want these people and do everything in their power to refuse them. There must a a huge overhaul in the system and this must happen sooner than later.
lisa_richter's review against another edition
3.0
This was a very good book about the worldwide issue of refugees. It told me a lot about a situation that I knew very little about.
However, it was also written from a liberal, anti-government, pro-UN, international, and open borders POV that I don't necessarily agree with.
However, it was also written from a liberal, anti-government, pro-UN, international, and open borders POV that I don't necessarily agree with.
unisonlibrarian's review against another edition
4.0
Refugees and Asylum Seekers have become political footballs in recent years, this book traces the history of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and follows the conditions of people seeking asylum in the world today. There are some personal, tragic and horrific accounts of the violence and persecution that people flee from, and the bureaucratic morass and ill-feeling they encounter when they finally arrive at any given destination in search of, not just a better life, but some semblance of human existence. We hear of men and women tortured and separated from their children or partners, one young man even suffered seeing soldiers playing football with his mothers severed head; this is no book for the faint of heart or stomach. It is harrowing, and all the more so because it is true. Such stories ejected from the pen of a Poppy Z. Brite novel would be macabre but fictional, these are not.
The most important aspect of the book is the slow but steady regression of refugee rights when they reach, supposedly more tolerant societies. Australia has lead the world in how to keep the unwanted out and other “western” nations have followed suit making it ever more difficult for people to regain their lost dignity. An important point is made in the disparity of the gender of refugees; it stands to reason that for every male asylum seeker, there is a woman who couldn’t afford to escape, who is burdened with children or simply stuck thanks to a repressive society.
If we judge a nation by how we treat the weakest in it, then shouldn’t we judge the world by that same benchmark? As citizens of the world we have failed our brothers and sisters, and continue to do so with sickening gusto. We were happy to let in the victims of authoritarian communism when escaping the GDR or USSR during the cold war, now we refuse entry to those in need. Refusing to let the needy in is as bad as any nation not letting them out, furthermore, while we continue to tolerate and encourage a world so unequal, then we must also tolerate the victims of that world seeking redress.
The most important aspect of the book is the slow but steady regression of refugee rights when they reach, supposedly more tolerant societies. Australia has lead the world in how to keep the unwanted out and other “western” nations have followed suit making it ever more difficult for people to regain their lost dignity. An important point is made in the disparity of the gender of refugees; it stands to reason that for every male asylum seeker, there is a woman who couldn’t afford to escape, who is burdened with children or simply stuck thanks to a repressive society.
If we judge a nation by how we treat the weakest in it, then shouldn’t we judge the world by that same benchmark? As citizens of the world we have failed our brothers and sisters, and continue to do so with sickening gusto. We were happy to let in the victims of authoritarian communism when escaping the GDR or USSR during the cold war, now we refuse entry to those in need. Refusing to let the needy in is as bad as any nation not letting them out, furthermore, while we continue to tolerate and encourage a world so unequal, then we must also tolerate the victims of that world seeking redress.
jlc1982's review against another edition
4.0
This was an extremely interesting book, for those interested in Human rights and trafficking, this is a great book to read. Gives a nice concise history of the UNHCR and human rights law as well...
cherbear's review against another edition
4.0
This was a heartbreaking and very instructive book very relevant to today. I liked how she divided the book up into the different sections (leaving, arriving, afterward) and dealt with the different issues that concerned each. Overall I felt the author was fairly even handed in her presentation of the topic. It didn't become too preachy, but presented both sides of the argument.
The only weakness, which is not the book's fault, is that even now, ten years later it is somewhat outdated. Not on the overall theme but the severity of the issue. It was almost funny to see her write that refugee numbers are down because anyone who pays attention to the news knows that there is a refugee crisis happening in Europe and there are more refugees worldwide now than since WWII. Not her fault since she can only talk about what was happening at the time, but it doesn't make me curious how or if the book would be changed today.
The only weakness, which is not the book's fault, is that even now, ten years later it is somewhat outdated. Not on the overall theme but the severity of the issue. It was almost funny to see her write that refugee numbers are down because anyone who pays attention to the news knows that there is a refugee crisis happening in Europe and there are more refugees worldwide now than since WWII. Not her fault since she can only talk about what was happening at the time, but it doesn't make me curious how or if the book would be changed today.
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