Ralph Severijns

Ralph Severijns (1982) is a part-time fellow at the Centre for State and Law of the Radboud University Nijmegen (Netherlands). He studied European and International Public Law at Tilburg University, also in the Netherlands. Ralph became interested in refugee issues during his studies when he volunteered for the Dutch Refugee Council and later interned for the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR), in Turkey. After completing his studies Ralph spent two years working as a policy officer for the Dutch Ministry of Justice, after which he joined the Dutch Committee on Migration Affairs as a senior advisor, which he combined with writing his PhD (published in 2019 as Zoeken naar zekerheid). Ralph was awarded his doctorate by Radboud University in October 2019. He currently works as an advisor on migration issue for the Netherlands Red Cross.

Refugees Tell Their Stories to the State

35 min Read Now

Polity of Literature (10/51)

Refugees Tell Their Stories to the State

Written by Ralph Severijns, Translated by Niels Bekkema, Afterword by Matthew Stadler, and Illustrated by Ken Krimstein

When refugees arrive in Europe they must tell their stories to state bureaucrats who control their fate. But is the state capable of hearing what they have to say?