Allen Keller, MD

Asylum Network Volunteer

"The horrible thing is that torture happens and has devastating health and mental consequences, but there's a lot we can do to help people."

Asylum Network

Stories of Survival

Asylum Seekers in America

Each year thousands of survivors of torture, slavery, and other forms of abuse and persecution seek asylum in the United States, hoping for safety from the physical and psychological pain they have suffered. In recent years, Physicians for Human Rights has seen government treatment of these refugees become increasingly harsh.

Yet policy makers and the general public know very little about these survivors — people who have lived through unimaginable brutality and persecution abroad. In fact, their stories teach us a great deal about the persistence of unspeakable violence and oppression in the world; about the enduring human capacity to survive grotesque violations of basic rights; and the vital role of political asylum in providing safe haven, and, for many, a chance to heal.

Isabella Sombillo
Philippines
“On a trip to visit her young children four military policemen abducted Isabella at a bus station and violently threw her into a nearby van. Injured and disoriented, she was just beginning an ordeal that would last fifteen years.”

Sarah K.
Africa
"Victims of spousal abuse are rarely granted asylum in the United States on that basis alone, no matter how brutal the abuse. So in at least one respect, Sarah K. was ‘fortunate’ that her husband — the man who terrorized her for 10 years — was a high-ranking government official."

Thomas Wesu
Africa
“Thomas was stunned to discover that he had become a criminal, wanted by the police, for expressing his political beliefs. 'There were soldiers everywhere in the house,' he said. 'They started beating me with rifle butts, ropes, and boots. They said they would kill me.'”

Aminata
Mauritania
“’Open your eyes, listen with your ears and do some research. There are people who suffer. There are slaves,’ implored Aminata. ‘They killed my parents in front of me. They killed people in front of me. Maybe that’s why I’m afraid of nothing.’”

Three Stories from Sudan
Sudan
“’No one tells you, "Let's go." They'll just let you stay there to die. I saw them. I just passed them. I had to jump over dead bodies.’”

Stories written and edited by Brian Braiker, Paul Rocklin, Barbara Ayotte, and Andrew Skolnick.

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