Migrants

Migrants – people living and working outside their country of origin – are particularly vulnerable to human rights abuses. Migrant workers in factories and on farms can endure terrible working conditions, while migrant domestic workers can face a myriad of abuses inside employers’ homes. The trafficking of forced labor is a global problem. Human Rights Watch investigates rights violations arising when countries try to contain or divert the migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers at or within their borders, by placing adults and children in overcrowded and filthy detention centers, sometimes indefinitely. Large numbers of migrants fleeing criminality, poverty and environmental disaster will be without the protections of refugee status. Ultimately, all migrants should be treated with dignity.

© 2011 Francesco Malavolta/AFP/Getty Images

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Finding Shelter

The world is in the midst of the worst refugee crisis since World War II. How did we get there? And what can be done to find the refugees a safe home? 

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  • Trapped

    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.

  • Saving Lives at Sea

    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.”

  • Fleeing Syria and Stranded in Hungary

    Fleeing Syria and Stranded in Hungary

    Interactive Photo Feature: Thousands of asylum-seekers, including many from war-torn Syria, arrive daily in Hungary, seeking a path to Germany and other Western European countries. Hungary has detained and at times refused to allow people to continue onwards to Western Europe, citing an EU regulation. As a result, thousands have been stranded at Budapest's Keleti train station. Human Rights Watch researchers interviewed scores. Here are their stories. >>