Refugees
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What Happened to Protection?
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I have lived in Athens for eight years. Long enough to know its rhythms, and long enough to watch the word “protection” disappear. Every headline speaks of “illegal immigration,” every policy turns arrival into suspicion. The system doesn’t ask why you came—it asks how. And in that shift, survival becomes…
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They Made Her a Metaphor, Then Made Her Illegal
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I still remember the first time I watched Baran. It was 2001. That film did something rare—it showed us what we already knew but refused to admit: that Afghan migrants were building our cities, stone by stone, and sleeping in their shadows. In those years, I saw the world behind…
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Abdulrahman Al-Khalidi and the EU’s Assault on Asylum Rights
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A Saudi Arabian dissident has been languishing in a Bulgarian detention center for over three years despite court orders for his release. Abdulrahman Al-Khalidi, an exiled pro-democracy activist, remains under threat of forced deportation to Saudi Arabia. His case has raised alarms among human rights organizations, which point to legal…
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Banners in the Wind, Walls at the Border
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In late 2006, I took part in a small gathering in Sanandaj for World Children’s Day. We held signs that said children deserve education, not war—hardly a radical demand. Most of us were under 25. Some were students, some workers, some artists. We were thinking about Afghan children without access…
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How Germany Justifies Refugee Exploitation in Greece
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I followed the recent decision of the German Federal Constitutional Court closely—because it’s not just about one case. It’s about a system that people like me live under every day. The case was about an Afghan refugee who had already received protection status in Greece. He went to Germany, applied…
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Greece: Refugees Still Face Major Barriers to a Normal Life
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Even after receiving refugee status in Greece, daily life remains full of obstacles. The latest report by Refugee Support Aegean (RSA) and PRO ASYL confirms what many of us have already experienced: recognition on paper does not mean real protection or stability. As someone who has lived in Greece for…
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Stripped by the Border: Cold Borders, Colder Hearts
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There is something about the cold that strips away all illusion. It was winter 2017 when I crossed the border from Turkey to Greece and landed in Thessaloniki. Fourteen of us, huddled together, braving the ice-cold night. Some had been pushed back before—tortured, jailed, and sent back again. No one…
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We Were Never Meant to Belong
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Photo: Refugee temporary accommodation by IOM, Athens, November 17, 2020. In Iran, when the last days of a administrative come around, they do not go out with humility. No. They celebrate. They build stages and stand behind microphones, handing each other awards and shaking hands like they just saved the…
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Hate Takes Aim: A School Massacre in Sweden
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Sweden has changed. The welfare state that once defined it has been chipped away, replaced by widening gaps between the privileged and the discarded. The political class, unwilling to face the deeper economic roots of social decay, has allowed xenophobia to become the easy answer. And as waves of refugees…
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The Story of a Nation? A Country? A People?
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I struggle to find the right title, perhaps because these words—nation, country, people—have lost their weight, their truth. For many of us, they are no longer symbols of pride or belonging. This isn’t just because I’ve wandered for over 12 years, moving from one place to another, but because the…
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What the EU-Lebanon Agreement Means for Syrian Refugees
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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen visited Beirut and announced a billion-euro support package for Lebanon, focusing on banking, infrastructure, and border security to manage migration and potentially facilitate voluntary refugee returns. This move aligns with the EU’s broader policy to confine migration by funding third countries to detain…
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Afghanistan; A place Every Bomb Detonated
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In the unforgiving deserts of Nimroz, amid dust and displacement, we made bonds and promises sprinkled with earth-tasting sugar to never forget each other. Narges Joodaki, an award-winning journalist, documents the harrowing journeys of Afghan refugees scarred by continuous wars. While teaching displaced children, subject to a world of suffering…
