Asylum is protection given by a country to someone who has left their own country because of danger, or a safe place where people are protected.
It comes from Greek *asylon*, meaning 'refuge' or 'place not to be seized', from *a-* 'not' and *sylon* 'right of seizure'. It originally described sacred places where people could not be arrested or harmed.
The core idea of asylum is 'you can’t be grabbed here'—a powerful promise for someone fleeing danger. Modern asylum laws are built on this ancient moral instinct that some spaces and some people deserve special protection.
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