When someone needs a refuge from a difficult or dangerous situation, they need asylum. If a government offers to protect people who have fled war or hardship in their own country, it gives them asylum.
You may have heard asylum used to describe an institution where insane people are housed, but did you know that an asylum can also be somewhere you’d happily and willingly go? An asylum offers shelter and protection, like the awning of a building in a downpour. Or it could be a country that takes in refugees in danger of persecution — otherwise known as "political asylum."