On May 6, 2009, for the first time in the post-World War II era, a European state ordered its coast guard and naval vessels to interdict and forcibly return boat migrants on the high seas without doing any screening whatsoever to determine whether any passengers needed protection or were particularly vulnerable. The interdicting state was Italy; the receiving state was Libya. Italian authorities towed migrant boats from international waters without even a cursory screening to see whether some might be refugees or whether others might be sick or injured, pregnant women, unaccompanied children, or victims of trafficking.

It was never easy to be gay or lesbian in Burundi. But now it’s illegal. The country’s new criminal code makes same-sex relations a crime for the first time in the country’s history. Human Rights Watch interviewed members of Burundi’s LGBT community after the new law was adopted and teamed up with photographer Martina Bacigalupo to create portraits of 10 of these young people who feel that their very identities have been rendered criminal by Burundi’s new law.

The South African government should recognize that political repression and economic deprivation have forced Zimbabweans to flee their country and immediately stop deporting them. Human Rights Watch called on the government to grant Zimbabweans in South Africa temporary status and work rights.

Alison Des Forges and Corinne Dufka commemorate the anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide.

Photographs by Dirk-Jan Visser.

Somalia is being ripped apart by conflict. The country's weak transitional government is at war with powerful insurgents. These are the stories of the people who fled Mogadishu. Photographs by Marcus Bleasdale.