Asylum and Its Discontents in the United States
The Nansen Refugee Award has been called the “Nobel Prize for refugee workers.” The award is bestowed annually on a person or group that has “provided extraordinary and dedicated service to the forcibly displaced.” Past honorees include Senator Edward Kennedy, Medecins Sans Frontiers, and Eleanor Roosevelt. The award is named for Fridtjof Nansen, a polar … Read more
During the first half of 2011, piracy attacks in the Indian Ocean increased by 36%. But prosecution of captured pirates remains relatively rare. In fact, four-fifths of captured pirates are released without further ado. A recent incident is proving an exception to the rule. A group of Somali pirates was captured last February after they murdered four American … Read more
A Somali human rights activist who received asylum in Great Britain has sued his alleged torturer, Abdi Aden Magan, in a U.S. District Court in Ohio. According to the Associated Press: The lawsuit claims Abdi Aden Magan of Columbus[, Ohio] authorized the torture of Abukar Hassan Ahmed when Magan served as investigations chief of the National … Read more
In a recent broadcast on San Diego Public Radio, Amita Sharma reports on Somali asylum seekers who “are taking a suspicious route” to the United States. This, at a time when “the Al-Qaeda-linked Somali Islamist group al-Shabab has threatened to attack the United States.” The asylum seekers leave Somalia for Kenya, where they obtain false passports. From … Read more