This is Tamara Dixon from Luxembourg.

The hotel.

I’m recording this from a hotel.

I’m here because I cannot stay in the housing that was assigned to me as part of my asylum process.

While I was in the assigned housing, I experienced repeated coordinated harassment and physical symptoms consistent with toxic exposure.

Before leaving I asked for assistance through available channels.

I reached out to the agency responsible for the facility, Ona.

to Passarelle, the legal NGO, that assists asylum seekers and to the Red Cross, among others.

Um, and you can find those letters on my substack in their entirety.

I reported that I did not feel safe and explained what I was experiencing.

The response I received was consistent.

I was told that I was safe and that I should remain where I was.

I was also told explicitly that all asylum seekers are required to stay in housing, and that no non communal housing exists.

I requested non communal housing for my safety and security, and I was told that no such option was available.

In EU law and in Luxembourg’s public commitments, there is formal recognition that human rights defenders exist and face specific risks.

Agencies like Ona, the Red Cross, and Pasorel are aware of this language.

But inside the asylum accommodation center, none of that translated into protection.

In practice, there was no mechanism I could trigger as a human rights defender, to make the harassment stop, or to access safer non-communal housing.

The protection framework existed in theory and in policy documents, but not in any concrete usable form in my case.

The conditions did not change.

At that point, staying was no longer tenable.

I made the decision to leave, knowing there may be consequences, including the possibility that I might not be allowed to return.

For me, returning to a place I could not safely remain in, did not meaningly change my situation.

I did not know what would happen next, and I still do not know.

I’m addressing that as it comes.

Being in a hotel does not mean there is no harm.

I’m still experiencing physical symptoms consistent with toxic exposure.

I’m not discussing mechanisms or tactics in this episode.

What has changed is that I have more control over certain variables, including not being in an overcrowded space, where exposure cannot be managed at all.

I will discuss the role of hotels as a tactic in a separate episode.

I will also discuss the um, conditions of the accommodation facility in a separate episode.

This episode is about why I left assigned housing and why I am here now.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit drtamaradixon.substack.com