Testimony of a Broken Exile: My Journey as an Asylum Seeker in the Philippines
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18357/big_r71202522690Abstract
This testimony recounts the lived experience of a Burundian asylum seeker detained in Manila International Airport for over a year after attempting to seek protection in the Philippines. Beyond a personal narrative, it exposes the structural realities of migration control in transit zones, where asylum claims are informally obstructed through detention, deprivation, and psychological pressure. The account highlights how legal frameworks meant to protect refugees can be undermined in practice, creating spaces of exclusion and vulnerability. It calls attention to the urgent need for accountability, humane treatment, and the effective implementation of international protection mechanisms.
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