Human Rights Watch’s Refugee Rights Program defends the rights of refugees, asylum seekers, and displaced people worldwide. We respond to emergencies as well as chronic situations, focusing especially on documenting government efforts to block access to asylum, to deprive asylum seekers of rights to fair hearings of their refugee claims, and to the forcible return of people to places where their lives or freedom would be threatened. We conduct on-the-ground investigations to speak with uprooted people and document abuses against them. We take our findings directly to policy-makers and the media as we advocate for governments to improve access to asylum, to stop forced returns, and to ensure that all migrants are treated with dignity and regard for their basic human rights.
© 2014 Reuters
EUROPE/CENTRAL ASIA
Tuesday, 8:07 p.m. at the Nyugati train station in Budapest, the latest train arrives from the Hungarian border town of Szeged carrying migrants and asylum seekers who came via Serbia. Volunteers from the nongovernmental group Migration Aid are standing by to greet them and offer food, clothing, and advice.
AUGUST 25, 2015 Dispatches
Dispatches: Volunteer Lifeline for Asylum Seekers in Hungary
Lydia Gall
Lydia Gall
Researcher, Eastern Europe and Western Balkans
TURKEY
Safe Zones in Name Only
AUGUST 21, 2015 Commentary
Safe Zones in Name Only
Bill Frelick
Bill Frelick
Director, Refugee Program
EUROPE/CENTRAL ASIA
Dispatches: Hungary Puts Asylum Seekers at Risk
AUGUST 13, 2015 Dispatches
Dispatches: Hungary Puts Asylum Seekers at Risk
Lydia Gall
Lydia Gall
Researcher, Eastern Europe and Western Balkans
Videos WATCH MORE
JANUARY 20, 2015 Video
France: Migrants, Asylum Seekers Abused and Destitute
France: Migrants, Asylum Seekers Abused and Destitute
Thousands Coerced to Leave Israel
Egypt/Sudan: Traffickers Who Torture
News
AUGUST 25, 2015 Statements
Human Rights Watch Submission to the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in advance of its review on Greece August 2015
Dispatches: Europe’s Refugee Crisis – Has UK Forgotten the Past?
AUGUST 13, 2015 Dispatches
Dispatches: Europe’s Refugee Crisis – Has UK Forgotten the Past?
Iain Levine
Deputy Executive Director, Program
AUGUST 12, 2015 Letter
Australia – Vietnam Human Rights Dialogue Submission
Dispatches: Tone Down the Scaremongering Over Migrants
AUGUST 10, 2015 Dispatches
Dispatches: Tone Down the Scaremongering Over Migrants
Bill Frelick
Director, Refugee Program
Dispatches: Unending Mediterranean Catastrophe
AUGUST 6, 2015 Dispatches
Dispatches: Unending Mediterranean Catastrophe
Judith Sunderland
Associate Director, Europe and Central Asia Division
JULY 31, 2015 Letter
US/Malaysia: Letter to Secretary Kerry on Trafficking in Persons in Malaysia
Dispatches: France - Enough Tragic Deaths in Calais
JULY 30, 2015 Dispatches
Dispatches: France - Enough Tragic Deaths in Calais
Izza Leghtas
Researcher, Western Europe
Dispatches: EU ‘Safe Country’ Lists Threaten Asylum Seekers’ Rights
JULY 28, 2015 Dispatches
Dispatches: EU ‘Safe Country’ Lists Threaten Asylum Seekers’ Rights
Bill Frelick
Director, Refugee Program
Why do People Risk Their Lives to Cross the Mediterranean?
JULY 28, 2015 Q & A
Why do People Risk Their Lives to Cross the Mediterranean?
EU: Migrants Seeking Opportunity or Refugees Seeking Protection?
JULY 28, 2015 News Release
EU: Migrants Seeking Opportunity or Refugees Seeking Protection?
JULY 22, 2015 Letter
Letter to President Obama ahead of visit to Kenya and Ethiopia
Dispatches: The EU, Migration, and Learning to Share
JULY 21, 2015 Dispatches
Dispatches: The EU, Migration, and Learning to Share
Judith Sunderland
Associate Director, Europe and Central Asia Division
Read More
REPORTS MORE REPORTS
Greece: Humanitarian Crisis on the Islands
JULY 11, 2015
Greece: Humanitarian Crisis on the Islands
Urgent EU Support Needed to Ensure Basic Rights for Refugees
JUNE 26, 2015
Persecuting “Evil Way” Religion
Abuses against Montagnards in Vietnam
EU: Abuses Against Children Fuel Migration
JUNE 22, 2015
EU: Abuses Against Children Fuel Migration
ON TWITTER
OUR PEOPLE
Bill Frelick
Bill Frelick
Director, Refugee Program
BillFrelick
Gerry Simpson
Gerry Simpson
Senior Researcher and Advocate, Refugee Program
GerrySimpsonHRW
Human Rights Watch Daily Brief, 25 August 2015
Daily Brief AUGUST 25, 2015
Thailand torture; Belarus frees political prisoners; child marriage in Bangladesh; Israel bans asylum seekers from key cities; migration - what's in a name?; Algeria activists still held; Facebook jailing in Kazakhstan; elections Venezuela style; crisis fatigue plagues Yemen; Nepal unrest.