Asylum Seekers

Videos Watch More

Reports More Reports

News

Read More

Interactives More Interactives

  • 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.”

  • Exodus: Asylum Seekers Flee Into Europe

    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.

  • 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. >>

Take Action

End The Asylum Crisis on Greek Islands

End The Asylum Crisis on Greek Islands

UPDATE: Since the start of the campaign, more than 7,000 asylum seekers have been transferred to mainland Greece.

More than 13,000 asylum seekers are trapped on Greece’s islands in deplorable conditions. European Union-sponsored processing centres housing them are filthy and overcrowded - many people, including women and children, are forced to sleep in summer tents or on the ground.

This is happening because Greece, with the support of other EU countries, has put in place a containment policy to prevent asylum seekers from leaving the islands to the mainland. But the Greek government can change this. No one should sleep in these arduous conditions. It is high time they ended this inhumane containment and #OpenTheIslands.

Take Action