Refugee Tales IV

by David Herd (Editor), Anna Pincus (Editor)

The fourth volume of Refugee Tales explores our present international environment, combining author re-tellings with first-hand accounts of individuals who have been detained across the world.
As the coronavirus pandemic defies borders - leaving those who are detained even more vulnerable - this collection shares stories spanning Canada, Greece, Italy, Switzerland and the UK, and calls for international insistence on a future without detention.

161 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2021

About the author

David Herd is a poet, critic, and teacher. His collections of poetry include All Just (Carcanet 2012), Outwith (Bookthug 2012), and Through (Carcanet 2016), and his recent writings on the politics of human movement have appeared in Los Angeles Review of Books, Parallax and Almost Island. He is Professor of Modern Literature at the University of Kent, has worked with Kent Refugee Help since 2009, and is a coordinator of Refugee Tales.

Reviews

[Alex Pearl · Rating 5 out of 5]

On the 28th of July 1951 the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees was adopted. On the occasion of its 70th birthday, Comma press published the 4th Volume of its profoundly important series ‘Refugee Tales’, with proceeds going to Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group, and Kent Refugee Help

The Refugee Tales organisation raise awareness and provides support for displaced peoples, campaigning tirelessly for an end to indefinite immigration detention in the UK. They lead and support public inquiries into human rights abuses and injustice in detention facilities.

I profoundly believe in equal human rights realisation and in the UN Treaty Bodies as a force for good in the world. ‘We are human before all else, and we are born equal’. Nevertheless, this incredible collection of Refugee Tales is a stark reminder to resist what Gerard Quinn (UN Special Rapporteur for disabled people) has called ‘The Temptation of Elegance’ - the presumption that lofty human rights guarantees, will automatically result in equal human rights enjoyment for disadvantaged groups in practice. Nowhere is this more apparent than in relation to the treatment of Refugees. Delivering harrowing first-hand accounts both in the UK and international contexts, this collection powerfully demonstrates the dehumanising treatment and human rights abuses that refugees face.

‘In an age driven by the politics of sovereignty and narratives of nation, human rights are an inconvenient truth’. The UK is the only European country that detains people indefinitely under immigration rules and has recently brought forward the draconian Sovereign Boarders Bill - in direct contravention of the rights guaranteed under the Refugee Convention. Refugee Tales calls for an immediate end to these shameful realities.

In 2019, 79.5 million people were displaced, that’s 1 in every 100 people globally. The only factor keeping you out of this number is luck. The Convention and this book are a reminder and a mission statement to do better. Please read and learn from this important collection!

[Johan D'Haenen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Het vierde en (voorlopig?) laatste deel in de reeks Refugee Tales, verhalen van en over vluchtelingen.
Deprimerend en mensonterend is de houding van de Europese overheden tegenover de vluchtelingenproblematiek... des te meer daar diezelfde Europese staten doorheen de geschiedenis zelf aan de basis liggen van die problematiek.
En ja, daar wringt het bittere en pijnlijke schoentje, want in feite zou er helemaal geen sprake mogen zijn van een vluchtelingenproblematiek... mensen zouden niet gedwongen mogen worden tot het ontvluchten van hun geboortegrond. En als zulks toch het geval mocht zijn, dan zouden die landen die de pretentie hebben te behoren tot de rijkste en machtigste staten ter wereld, heel eenvoudig die mensen op een menswaardige wijze moeten onthalen.
Het Verenigd Koninkrijk dat maar al te graag pronkt en uitpakt als Moederland van de 56 landen van het Gemenebest gedraagt zich in deze juist heel stiefmoederlijk... vandaar deze jaarlijks terugkerende actie van Refugee Tales.

[G J PARKER · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an important book. It makes a uniquely human contribution to the debate about the British government's Hostile Environment and places it within a developing, increasingly troubling transnational pattern of human rights abuses. These stories - told in the first person by people with lived experience of detention or, to preserve anonymity, co-produced with writers - tell of the waste of human life caused by the immoral denial of immigrants' rights when they are detained, arbitrarily, indefinitely, in brutal conditions, for having committed no crime.

[Pauine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A disturbing account of how persecuted people are detained unlawfully in the UK and other countries whilst seeking asylum. They are treated as criminals and can be detained for years not knowing what is going to happen them. Whilst I understand that persons seeking asylum should be checked I feel they should be treated humanely too.

[Jessica]

Will share my thoughts on this soon