Melanie Nezer: The fundamental right to seek asylum
梅兰妮·尼泽尔: 寻求庇护的基本权利
Melanie Nezer is a national leader in efforts to inform and educate individuals, institutions, elected officials and communities about refugees and asylum seekers. Full bio
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from a woman named Ellie.
是一个叫埃莉的女人打来的。
separations at the southern border
发生家庭分离的故事。
what she could do to help.
有没有她能帮上忙的地方。
of her grandfather and his father.
他祖父和父亲的故事。
and told them to walk west,
然后告诉他们往西出发,
west across Europe,
and they got to America.
the stories of the teens
was her grandfather and his brother.
就是她祖父和父亲的兄弟。
were exactly the same.
这些故事几乎一模一样。
the Hassenfeld Brothers --
哈森菲尔德兄弟,
"宝(bros)"——
Mr. Potato Head.
I'm telling you this story.
讲这个故事的原因。
because it made me think
是因为它让我思考
and I have three of them --
我有三个孩子,
be safe where we were,
他们不再安全的时候,
at the southern US border,
在美国南部边境展开工作,
asylum seekers.
I've been at HIAS,
希伯来移民援助协会(HIAS),
for refugee rights around the world,
难民权利斗争的犹太组织,
is that, sometimes,
make us safer and stronger
让我们更安全也更强大的事情,
have the opposite of the intended results
还会产生适得其反的效果。
and unnecessary suffering.
而且不必要的伤害。
at our southern border?
出现在我们的南部边境呢?
that are coming to our southern border
Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
危地马拉、洪都拉斯和萨尔瓦多。
countries in the world.
in these countries,
是很难保证安全的,
for yourself and your family.
和家庭创造未来了。
women and girls is pervasive.
的暴力行为无处不在。
have been coming to our shores,
was deeply involved.
美国都深深涉足其中。
there's been a spike in families,
出现了飙升现象,
showing up at checkpoints
出现在过境关卡,
as you see those images.
的时候记住几件事。
of interceptions at the southern border,
并没有达到历史高位,
themselves at checkpoints.
人们滞留在过境关卡。
with the clothes on their backs;
powerful country in the world.
世界上最强大的国家。
of the destination country
我们很容易
with these questions
为上述问题纠结的人们,
about their families
very different questions:
是截然不同的问题:
and in international law.
规定的一项基本权利。
的《难民公约》,
to the Holocaust
对犹太人大屠杀的回应,
would we return people to countries
这种行为坚决说不的一种途径,
refugees come to this country.
这个国家的方式。
Admissions Program.
难民安置计划。
and selects refugees abroad
和选取国外的难民,
the program began in 1980.
实施以来最低的数字。
more refugees in the world
拥有的难民数量
in recorded history,
come to this country is by seeking asylum.
寻求避难的方式来到这个国家。
who present themselves at a border
出现在一国边境
if they're sent back home.
将遭受迫害的人们。
who's going through the process
通过相关流程
the refugee definition.
more difficult to seek asylum.
寻求避难变得如此艰难的情况。
when they show up at our borders
当他们出现在我们边境的时候,
that they simply can't apply.
他们就是不能提出申请了。
也是不合法理的。
"Migrant Protection Protocols,"
“移民保护协议”,
they have to wait in Mexico
他们需要在墨西哥等候,
through the courts in the United States,
进行审理批准的时候,
并没有得到保障,
has detained over 3,000 children,
已经扣留了超过 3000 名儿童,
a six-year-old blind girl.
是一个六岁的盲童女孩。
in what are virtually prisons
用着近乎对待罪犯的方式,
the hallmark of our immigration system.
我们移民系统的标志。
on a hill or a beacon of hope
或一座希望的灯塔相距甚远,
about ourselves and our values.
标榜的自我形象和价值观相去甚远。
and it always will be.
也会继续存在下去。
persecution, war, violence,
what life is like in other places --
其他角落生活状况都证明——
policies that reflect our values
制定反映我们价值取向的政策,
given the reality in the world.
这也的确合乎情理。
is dial back the toxic rhetoric
就是减少于事无补的言论,
debate on this issue for too long.
在这一议题上辩论基础太久了。
because my grandparents were.
因为我的祖辈们就是他们的一员。
didn't see her kids for seven years,
没能见到自己的孩子们,
from Poland to New York.
从波兰带到了美国,
when he was seven
她才与祖父再次相见。
until he was 14.
上世纪 30 年代离开波兰,
left Poland in the 1930s
the British Mandate of Palestine,
英属巴勒斯坦托管地的地方,
她的亲人和朋友们。
her family and friends again.
to global migration and displacement
应对国际移民的回应,
migration something that isn't a crisis
把移民不再当作是一场危机
as a global community.
可以应对的事情。
to countries in Central America
we spend on enforcement and detention.
和扣留儿童上的一小部分。
have an asylum system that works.
发挥作用的难民庇护系统。
人道的难民庇护系统。
in the refugee program:
难民安置项目的缩减:
15,000 Syrian refugees
15000 名叙利亚难民
refugee crisis on earth.
最大的难民危机的回应。
and efforts to block immigration,
和各方势力来阻挡难民潮,
in this country, according to polls,
对于难民和移民支持的呼声,
and faith-based organizations,
和信仰为基础的组织的存在,
or a policy that needs oversight.
或有这么一条政策需要监督时。
one of these detention centers
其中一个拘留中心
about my call with Ellie
我十分欣赏的部分是,
that the stories of her grandparents
她祖辈们的故事
for Mr. Potato Head,
a good story to leave with,
and my relatives and your relatives
我的亲人还有你的亲人们的故事,
they're all the same.
这些故事都是一样的。
when it says to the refugee,
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Melanie Nezer - Refugee and immigrants rights attorneyMelanie Nezer is a national leader in efforts to inform and educate individuals, institutions, elected officials and communities about refugees and asylum seekers.
Why you should listen
Melanie Nezer is Senior Vice President for Public Affairs for HIAS, the American Jewish community's international refugee agency. Founded in 1881, HIAS is the oldest refugee agency in the world and has helped refugees from all over the world find safety and freedom. In 17 years at HIAS, Nezer has shaped much of the agency's policy and advocacy agenda and its legal work. She previously served as HIAS's Vice President for Policy and Advocacy, as Migration Policy Counsel and as Director of HIAS's Employment Visa Program, representing at-risk Jewish professionals and religious workers seeking to work in the US during times of instability and crisis in their home countries.
Before joining HIAS, Nezer was the Immigration Policy Director for the organization now known as US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, where -- in addition to conducting advocacy on immigration and asylum issues -- she was co-editor of Refugee Reports and a writer for the annual World Refugee Survey. Prior to her work in Washington DC, Nezer was in private legal practice in Miami, Florida, where she specialized in immigration law and criminal defense.
Learn more about Nezer's work by watching "The Ground Beneath My Children's Feet: Refugees and the Jewish Story," "'We Stand with You'": HIAS Responds to Synagogue Massacre with Message of Hope for Refugees," by listening to "HIAS Responds to Deadly Attack on Pittsburgh Synagogue," and by reading "Refugee Order Demystified, Q&A with Nezer of HIAS," and "The Global Plan for Dealing with Refugees Isn't Broken, It's Nearly Broke."
Melanie Nezer | Speaker | TED.com