My name is Najeeba Wazefadost, and 12 years ago I risked my life on a dangerous journey. I escaped my country Afghanistan and came to Australia by boat. I know that there are no words to comfort those who have lost their loved ones in the recent boat tragedies. But also devastating is the fact that over the past decade, we have only heard politicians endlessly scare-mongering about the number of boat arrivals and how we can decrease these numbers, or deter asylum seekers altogether. Over time, the real human faces of the vulnerable have been turned into statistics about the number of boat arrivals. We have forgotten the devastating circumstances from which asylum seekers come. Afghanistan has been in a state of war for many decades, a war that has left little evidence of justice, humanity and peace for its people. Even now, villages are frequently attacked and there is continuous persecution of minorities. The Afghan Hazaras are not safe in Afghanistan, and are not even safe in neighbouring countries like Pakistan. These are people whose only choice is to seek refuge and security in any way possible. For my family and me, we could not wait for someone to come and rescue us because we could have been dead by then. Coming by boat was the only choice we had. Even though we knew we were at risk of drowning in the daunting waters of the Pacific, we preferred taking that risk over brutal killing at the hands of the Taliban. It hurts me to hear politicians claim that the best way to minimise boat arrivals is via offshore processing. The Malaysia solution is nothing short of Australia trying to escape from its obligations under the UN Convention on Refugees. Refugees are a global issue and under the convention, Australia must share its responsibility with other countries that are signatories to the convention, and accept that there has been little done to achieve rights for