Europe’s Migration Crisis
The EU and its member states continue efforts to prevent arrivals and outsource responsibility for migration control to countries outside the EU. In Libya the EU is pursuing a containment strategy in cooperation with their authorities, despite overwhelming evidence of pervasive abuse against asylum seekers and other migrants arbitrarily detained in Libya.
Just over 172,300 people reached Europe by sea in 2017, less than half those in 2016. There was a significant increase in boat migration from Morocco to Spain, though overall numbers remained low. The Mediterranean crossing remained deadly, with 3,139 dead or missing in 2017.
Nongovernmental organizations performed roughly 40 percent of rescues in the central Mediterranean in the first half of 2017, but several groups suspended activities due to security concerns and increased interceptions, sometimes reckless and accompanied by abuse, by Libyan coast guard forces.
- Europe/Central AsiaNews Release
- Europe/Central Asia
- Europe/Central AsiaNews Release
EU: Summit Leadership Needed on Migration
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News
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News Release
Italy: Migrant Rescue Ship Impounded
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News Release
Greece: 13,000 Still Trapped on Islands
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Commentary
Macron’s Mixed Message in Calais
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Dispatches
No Child Should Be Left in the Cold
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Commentary
Aid Workers Under Pressure in Calais
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News Release
Asylum Seekers’ Hell in a Greek ‘Hotspot’
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Greece: Highest Court Fails Asylum Seekers
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Italy: Navy Support for Libya May Endanger Migrants
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Greece: Huge Rise in Detention of Migrant Children
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France: Police Attacking Migrants in Calais
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EU: Draft Code for Sea Rescues Threatens Lives
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EU: Boat Migration Demands Shared Responsibility
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EU: Shifting Rescue to Libya Risks Lives
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Dispatches
Playing Politics with People’s Lives
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Dispatches
‘My Brother is Being Deported Today’
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Commentary
Letting People Drown is not an EU Value
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Commentary
Lost Opportunity In Hungary
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News Release
Greece: Reject EU Pressure on Asylum Seekers
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Hungary: Draft Law Tramples Asylum Seekers’ Rights
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Dispatches
Death and Despair in Lesbos
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EU: Put Rights Above Politics
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Greece: Dire Refugee Conditions on Islands
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Croatia: Asylum Seekers Forced Back to Serbia
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EU: Inward Turn Puts Rights at Risk
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Dispatches
Asylum Seekers Left in the Cold
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EU: Restore Rights Values to Migration Policy
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EU: Returns to Greece Put Refugees at Risk
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Dispatches
Walid Taleb’s Path to Justice in Greece
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EU: Show Leadership in Global Displacement Crisis
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EU Policies Put Refugees At Risk
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EU/US: Obama Should Remind Europe to Defend Rights
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Commentary
Relocation Farce Brings Shame On Europe
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Dispatches
World Refugee Summits Fail Refugees
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Hungary: Failing to Protect Vulnerable Refugees
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Commentary
Hungary’s War on Refugees
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Provide Genuine Refuge to World’s Displaced
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Dispatches
Hungary’s Xenophobic Anti-Migrant Campaign
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Commentary
The tragedy of Greece's refugee children
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Dispatches
The Death of a Small Syrian Boy
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Greece: Migrant Children in Police Cells
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Hungary: Migrants Abused at the Border
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EU/NATO: Europe’s Plan Endangers Foreigners in Libya
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Italy: Children Stuck in Unsafe Migrant Hotspot
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Sweden: Restrictive Asylum Bill
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Dispatches
Dispatches: Deadly Week in the Mediterranean
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UN: Press Turkey to Open Border
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Commentary
Open Hotspots Again
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EU: Asylum Proposals Go in Wrong Direction
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UN Meeting Ducks Syria Refugee Responsibility
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EU: Turkey Mass-Return Deal Threatens Rights
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EU/Turkey: Mass, Fast-Track Returns Threaten Rights
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EU/Turkey: Don’t Negotiate Away Refugee Rights
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EU/Balkans/Greece: Border Curbs Threaten Rights
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Commentary
Fear and Loathing of Refugees in Europe
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Norway/Russia: Don’t Jeopardize Asylum Seekers
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EU/Greece: Share Responsibility for Asylum Seekers
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European Union: Refugee Response Falls Short
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Macedonia: New Move to Lock up Asylum Seekers
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Amid Insecurity, Protect Refugees
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EU: Steps to Address Refugee Crisis
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EU/AU: Put Rights at Heart of Migration Efforts
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Turkey: 400,000 Syrian Children Not in School
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EU/Balkans: Contradictory Migration Plan
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EU: Human Toll of Border Closures
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Commentary
No, EU, Turkey Is Not Safe for Everyone
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News Release
EU: Leaders Duck Responsibilities on Refugees
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Macedonia: Unchecked Police Abuse of Migrants
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Hungary: New Border Regime Threatens Asylum Seekers
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EU: Deflecting Responsibility to Protect Refugees
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Dispatches
Dispatches: Let Refugees on Buses, Greece
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Hungary: Abysmal Conditions in Border Detention
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Commentary
Time to Ditch ‘Dublin’
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Dispatches
Dispatches: Refugees March out of Hungary
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EU: Five Steps to Tackle Refugee Crisis
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Commentary
The Refugee Crisis That Isn't
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Commentary
Grim crisis within EU borders
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News Release
Macedonia: Stop Police Violence Against Migrants
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Dispatches
Dispatches: ‘We Want to Live Like Humans’
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Commentary
Mediterranean Crisis: The Big Haggle
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EU: Rights Abuses at Home Drive Mediterranean Crisis
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EU: Don’t Endanger Lives at Sea or Deny Protection
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Commentary
Migrant smuggling: What are the EU options?
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Commentary
Brussels’ Personae Non Gratae
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News Release
EU: Mixed Messages on Boat Migration
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Commentary
Will Europe make migrant crisis worse?
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EU: Mediterranean Deaths Warrant Crisis Response
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EU: Intolerable Inaction Costs Lives at Sea
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Reports More Reports
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France: Calais Migrants at Risk as Cold Arrives
Police Abuse, Freezing Conditions Threaten Their Safety
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Greece: Dire Risks for Women Asylum Seekers
In Lesbos Camp, Neglect Threatens Women’s, Girls’ Safety, Health
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Spain: Migrants Held in Poor Conditions
Automatic Detention, Obstacles to Seeking Asylum
Saving Lives at Sea
Rescuing migrants headed for Europe on the world's deadliest migration route
An Agenda to Restore Protection
EU Policies Put Refugees At Risk. Read HRW’s Recommendations for Reform
Interactives More Interactives
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Trapped
Lesbos, a postcard-perfect vacation island in the northern Aegean Sea, is a haven for people fleeing war in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. It symbolizes the hope that somewhere in Europe there is refuge. It is also a graveyard for the countless corpses that have washed ashore on its beautiful coastline. And it’s hell for the thousands who are trapped there, victims of the European Union’s determination to stem the tide of asylum seekers and other migrants by sending a message that they are unwelcome. For all of its natural beauty, there is much fear on Lesbos. Fear caused by the traumas of war, violence and displacement and of harsh camp conditions, insecurity and uncertain futures. Fear of rejection, detention, and deportation. Fear of going to the toilet in the dark at night, or not eating after two hours in a food line. Fear of lice and scabies. Fear of winter, cold and damp.
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Saving Lives at Sea
Metal towers of lights reached out of the sea and flames belched into the midnight sky as the Aquarius reached Bouri Field, the largest oilfield in the Mediterranean, about 65 nautical miles north of Libya. I had been sitting cross-legged on deck of this rescue ship, listening to a group of West African men telling unbearable stories of captivity and brutality in Libya, the country they had just fled. Amadou concluded, to earnest nods all around, “God left Libya a long time ago.”
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Exodus: Asylum Seekers Flee Into Europe
“What will happen to us?” “Will they fingerprint us?” was the constant refrain as we watched a human wave of asylum seekers and migrants from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan crossing the Serbia-Hungary border.