Henning Mankell’s first encounter with refugees

“When I was 17 or 18 years old I met some refugees from South Africa who had fled apartheid, and I realized that no one flees without very strong cause.”

“When I was 17 or 18 years old I met some refugees from South Africa who had fled apartheid, and I realized that no one flees without very strong cause . . . When you don’t have any other possibility, you flee to survive. The definition of a refugee can never be the same as migrant – a refugee flees for his or her life. Now, after my trip to Uganda, I realize this definition is the only one possible.”

Henning Mankell visited a refugee settlement and a transit centre in Uganda, neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo. 

Read an interview with Henning Mankell at http://www.unhcr.org/528e0d846.html

 


1 family torn apart by war is too many

Learn more about our work with refugees at UNHCR.org