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Refugee Quotes

Browse 532 quotes about Refugee.

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Refugee Quotes

“The Chinese describe themselves as political refugees. Many base that claim on China's strict population laws, which allow them to have only one child. But if we accept them as bona fide political refugees for that reason, doesn't it follow that people living in countries where abortion is illegal (such as Ireland and Poland) should also receive political asylum? After all, their country's policy is forcing them to give birth to unwanted children.”

PeopleIfsGivingShouldChildrenCountryReasonLawPoliticalAcceptingPolicyBirthClaimsPopulationChinaImmigrationChineseAbortionIllegalIrelandStrictRefugeeAsylumsPolandUnwantedLiving In The Country
Book:Ed Koch on Everything: Movies, Politics, Personalities, Food and Other Stuff
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“Many of the self-described "political refugees" who come here make stopovers in other countries on their way to the U.S., in places where they would be free to have as many children as they want. But they choose to continue on to the U.S. Why? Because it is more economically attractive.”

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Book:Ed Koch on Everything: Movies, Politics, Personalities, Food and Other Stuff
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“So let us take our fair share of the true refugees and act responsible as a government in providing for their necessary expenses. Let us stop skewing the whole process by taking some folks who are not truly refugees in order simply to meet our foreign policy needs or domestic policy demands. There has to be a better way to meet those needs and demands than we are doing now. I think it is embarrassing to all of us who truly know the mission of the Refugee Act.”

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Author:Alan K. Simpson
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“Refugee problems may often seem intractable but they are not insoluble. In our experience there are two basic prerequisites for solution: the political will of leaders to tackle the causes and to settle for peace, and international determination to push for peace and then to consolidate it. Consolidating peace means helping societies emerging from war to reintegrate refugees in safety and dignity, to rebuild their institutions - including in the field of justice and human rights - and to resume their economic development.”

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Author:Sadako Ogata
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“In the late 1990s, some of the worst terrorist atrocities in the world were what the Turkish government itself called state terror, namely massive atrocities, 80 percent of the arms coming from the United States, millions of refugees, tens of thousands of people killed, hideous repression, that's international terror, and we can go on and on.”

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Author:Noam Chomsky
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“It was a heavenly summer, the summer in which France fell and the British Expeditionary Force was evacuated from Dunkirk. Leaves were never such an intense and iridescent green; sunlight glinted on flower-studded meadows as the Germans encircled the Maginot Line and overran not only France but Belgium and Holland. Birdsong filled the air in the lull between bursts of gunfire and accompanied the fleeing refugees who blocked the roads. It was as though the weather was preparing a glorious requiem for the death of Europe.”

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Author:Eva Ibbotson
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“Until we consider animal life to be worthy of the consideration and reverence we bestow upon old books and pictures and historic monuments, there will always be the animal refugee living a precarious life on the edge of extermination, dependent for existence on the charity of a few human beings.”

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Book:Encounters with Animals
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“Israel uses sophisticated attack jets and naval vessels to bomb densely-crowded refugee camps, schools, apartment blocks, mosques, and slums to attack a population that has no air force, no air defense, no navy, no heavy weapons, no artillery units, no mechanized armor, no command in control, no army and calls it a war.”

WarUseSchoolForceAirWeaponsArmyPopulationIsraelHeavyDefenseCommandBlockIslamicBombsCampsApartmentSophisticatedUnitsRefugeeNavyVesselCrowdedJetArmorAir ForceMosquesSlumsNavalArtilleryRefugee Camps
Author:Noam Chomsky
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“The mind is everything. If you don’t believe you can do something then you can’t. If you believe that your upbringing was substandard and therefore you have to walk around as a refugee from that crisis situation for the rest of your life, forever bearing the burden of that experience then that will be YOUR life.”

IfsMindBelieveCan DoWalksSituationForeverCrisisDon't BelieveBurdenRefugeeRest Of Your LifeIf You BelieveUpbringingCan Do SomethingBelieve You Can
Author:Kai Greene
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“We talk of regional conflicts, of economic and social crises, of political instability, of abuses of human rights, of racism, religious intolerance, inequalities between rich and poor, hunger, over-population, under-development and. I could go on and on. Each and every one of these impediments to humanity's pursuit of well-being are also among the root causes of refugee problems.”

HumansWellsProblemPoliticalHumanitySocialCausesReligiousPoorRichRightsEconomicGoes OnDevelopmentConflictRacismRootsAbuseCrisisHungerHuman RightsPopulationPursuitInequalityWell BeingIntoleranceRefugeeRich And PoorInstabilityImpedimentsProblems And SolutionsSolution To A ProblemReligious IntoleranceRoot CausePolitical Instability
Author:Poul Hartling
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“It has been hard to muster the resources to support fledgling democracies and to intervene on behalf of the most desperate. The AIDS orphans in Uganda, the refugee fleeing Zimbabwe, the young woman who has been trafficked into the sex trade in Southeast Asia. It has been hard, yet this assistance together with the compassionate work of private charities, people of conscience and people of faith, has shown the soul of our country.”

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Author:Condoleezza Rice
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“We are called to reach out to those who find themselves in the existential peripheries of our societies and to show particular solidarity with the most vulnerable of our brothers and sisters: the poor, the disabled, the unborn and the sick, migrants and refugees, the elderly and the young who lack employment.”

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Author:Pope Francis
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“Every time we walk along a beach some ancient urge disturbs us so that we find ourselves shedding shoes and garments or scavenging among seaweed and whitened timbers like the homesick refugees of a long war... Mostly the animals understand their roles, but man, by comparison, seems troubled by a message that, it is often said, he cannot quite remember or has gotten wrong... Bereft of instinct, he must search continually for meanings... Man was a reader before he became a writer, a reader of what Coleridge once called the mighty alphabet of the universe.”

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Author:Loren Eiseley
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“True Socialism, in which everyone is truly equal, does not just resemble a prison - it is a prison. It can not exist unless it is surrounded by high walls, by watchtowers and by guard-dogs, for people always want to escape from any socialist regime, just as they do from a prison. If you continue your attempts to establish a model society you will need to build walls around it. You will be forced to do so sooner or later by the flood of refugees.”

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Author:Viktor Suvorov
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“America is also the nameless foreigner, the homeless refugee, the hungry boy begging for a job and the black body dangling on a tree. America is the illiterate immigrant who is ashamed that the world of books and intellectual opportunities are closed to him. We are all that nameless foreigner, that homeless refugee, that hungry boy, that illiterate immigrant and that lynched black body. All of us, from the first Adams to the last Filipino, native born or alien, educated or illiterate-We are America!”

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Book:America is In the Heart: A Personal History
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“The bottom line is that we've become a nation of thieves, a value rejected by our founders. James Madison, the father of our Constitution, was horrified when Congress appropriated $15,000 to help French refugees. He said, 'I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.' Tragically, today's Americans would run Madison out of town on a rail.”

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Author:Walter E. Williams
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“UN peacekeeping operations are now increasingly complex and multi-dimensional, going beyond monitoring a ceasefire to actually bringing failed States back to life, often after decades of conflict. The blue helmets and their civilian colleagues work together to organize elections, enact police and judicial reform, promote and protect human rights, conduct mine-clearance, advance gender equality, achieve the voluntary disarmament of former combatants, and support the return of refugees and displaced people to their homes.”

PeopleHumansStatesHomeTogetherSupportRightsAchieveMinesReturnProtectConflictPoliceElectionBlueComplexesHuman RightsGenderDecadesFormerReformOperationsWorking TogetherOrganizeColleaguesRefugeeCiviliansGender EqualityJudicialDisarmamentHelmetMonitoringPeacekeepingCeasefireClearance
Author:Kofi Annan
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“The challenge of ending displacement is inseparable from the challenge of establishing and maintaining peace. When wars end, farmers return to their fields; children return to school; violence against women declines; trade and economic activity resume; medical and other services become more accessible, and the international focus changes from relief to development and self-sufficiency. All this makes new wars less likely. It is a virtuous cycle that deserves nurture and support.”

ChildrenWarEndsSelfSchoolChallengesSupportFocusViolenceEconomicFieldsDevelopmentReturnActivityDeserveTradeInternationalMedicalReliefCyclesFarmersDeclineVirtuousNurtureRefugeeMaintainingInseparableViolence Against WomenResumesSelf SufficiencySufficiencyDisplacementMaintaining Peace
Author:Kenneth Bacon
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“At (UNHCR's) headquarters, I met extraordinary people, men and women, especially from the emergency team, who shared with me their passion, their dedication and their commitment to this organisation and refugees. They told me about the daily difficulties they have to face and also the joy they felt when they managed to save a person whose life was threatened.”

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Author:Julien Clerc
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