French police are using overly broad powers to conduct unwarranted and abusive identity checks on black and Arab young men and boys.

The European Court of Human Rights ruling on January 17, 2012, against the deportation of a Jordanian national from the United Kingdom could have serious consequences for human rights protection in Europe, said three nongovernmental organizations that intervened in the case.

The Hungarian government’s interference with judicial independence and media freedom violates its international obligations and puts human rights at risk.

Racist and other hate violence is a problem in Germany—as it is in many European Union countries— with hundreds of violent attacks recorded by authorities and civil society groups each year.

French authorities are carrying out mass evictions and expulsions of Eastern European Roma in France.

Human Rights Watch welcomes the UPR report on Greece, which includes important recommendations concerning implementing the National Action Plan on Migration Management and the asylum reform by ensuring that all migrants are treated according to Greece’s human hights obligations; improving state response to racist and xenophobic violence; mitigating measures to protect its most vulnerable population, including persons with disabilities and unaccompanied migrant children.

Confronted with fresh evidence unearthed by Human Rights Watch that the UK security services were complicit in the rendition and possible torture of opponents of the Gaddafi regime, Prime Minister David Cameron gave a confident performance in the House of Commons. He told MPs that the “significant accusations” would be looked at “very carefully” by the existing Detainee Inquiry.

We write in advance of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (“the Committee”) upcoming sessional review of Greece to highlight areas of concern we hope will inform your consideration of the Greek government’s (“the government”) compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child (“the Convention”).

The challenges faced by the government should not be used to justify abuses on the streets – but that is the accusation facing the police

The European Council summit that concluded on June 24, 2011, made no significant progress in addressing serious deficiencies in EU asylum and migration policies.

European Union (EU) heads of state meeting in Brussels later this week should put human rights at the heart of EU migration and asylum policy.

NATO and its member countries should conduct a full investigation into allegations of failure to rescue a disabled boat filled with migrants fleeing Libya.

The new Hungarian constitution approved by parliament contains provisions that could lead to discrimination. President Pál Schmitt should send the constitution back to Parliament to address these and other human rights issues.

The Italian government is failing to take effective action to prevent and prosecute racist and xenophobic violence.

The United Kingdom coalition government’s proposals to reform controversial counterterrorism measures contain improvements, especially on pre-charge detention, but fall short of bringing counterterrorism law and policy in line with international human rights standards.

We are writing to express our serious concerns about a variety of provisions in the immigration bill currently under examination in the Senate. The memorandum annexed to this letter sets out our analysis and detailed recommendations.

No repressive government enjoys facing public pressure to respect human rights. These days, their favorite avoidance strategy is to state a preference for private "dialogue" and "cooperation" - an attractive option because it takes place behind closed doors. Sadly, the major Western powers have fallen for this ploy. Reluctant to ruffle feathers while eager to be seen as "doing something," they increasingly embrace the same subterfuge.

European Union member states and the European Commission should press Hungary as it assumes the EU presidency to address its own serious human rights shortcomings, beginning with a problematic media law.

A growing number of European countries have passed or are contemplating restrictions on religious dress in public places. The impetus for these restrictions is the debate in Europe about the wearing of Muslim veils. The debate reflects tensions in increasingly pluralist societies struggling with integration, national identity and security.

Migrants and asylum seekers, including children, risk abusive treatment and arbitrary detention at the hands of Ukrainian border guards and police, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Some migrants recounted how officials tortured them, including with electric shocks, after they were apprehended trying to cross into the European Union or following their deportation from Slovakia and Hungary.

The agreement by European Union member states to remove the last legal barrier to EU accession to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is an important step forward.

We welcome this opportunity to submit for your consideration our recommendations as you undertake your examination of the bill to reform police custody. Our recommendations are grounded in international human rights law and informed by our in-depth research on France’s criminal justice approach to countering terrorism, published in our July 2008 report Preempting Justice: Counterterrorism laws and procedures in France (Annex I).

Recent reports indicate that Serbia’s European Union (EU) membership application may be accelerated without addressing the question of Serbia’s cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Prior to taking such a significant step, the EU should maintain a firm and consistent approach towards Serbia in relation to its cooperation with the ICTY.

(Brussels) - The Greek government's failure to follow through on its promise to reform the country's broken asylum system creates an urgent need for  the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the European Commission to intervene, Human Rights Watch said today.

A presidential decree that would introduce emergency reforms, which had already been postponed until September 1, 2010, has been pushed back again for several months following the recent government reshuffle.  Full-scale reform of the system is now unlikely before the end of 2011, at the earliest.

The Law Commission should amend the text of the proposed immigration bill to protect all asylum seekers from the risk of being deported before their asylum claims have been fully examined, Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture-France (ACAT-France).

In a letter on September 10 to Tjeenk Willink, who is organizing and overseeing the talks to form a new Dutch government, Human Rights Watch called on the next government to give the highest possible priority to human rights in its international relations while leading by example and addressing flaws in its own asylum system and integration policy.

In an April letter to the government of Greece, Human Rights Watch highlighted the appalling conditions in two migrant detention facilities at the old airport outside Athens. Human Rights Watch urged the Greek government to take immediate steps to close these facilities down, and release migrants held there or transfer them to other detention facilities, after considering less restrictive alternatives to their detention. Having not received a response from the government, this open letter repeats that call and asks the Greek government to ensure that people are not subject to detention when their deportation is not feasible and to end the practice of detaining unaccompanied migrant children.

The new UK coalition government should repeal an abusive counterterrorism power that has led to hundreds of thousands of people being stopped and searched without reasonable suspicion of criminal wrongdoing.

Torture is prohibited under international law, at anytime and anywhere. No exceptions are allowed. Yet the UK, France and Germany are engaged in ongoing counterterrorism cooperation with foreign intelligence services in countries that routinely use torture.

The European Union (EU) should demonstrate its commitment to justice by requiring Serbia to arrest the Bosnian Serb’s wartime military leader, Ratko Mladic, before allowing Serbia to establish closer ties with the EU.

On Monday, June 14, the Foreign Affairs Council will discuss the ratification status of Serbia’s Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA). Full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia should remain a necessary pre-condition for ratification, as well as the start of any membership negotiations.

The British government's planned inquiry into the complicity of UK intelligence agencies in torture should be comprehensive, independent, and public, Human Rights Watch said today. UK Foreign Secretary William Hague announced the inquiry in comments to the BBC last night, but did not provide details regarding its scope, time-scale or composition.

The Belgian Parliament should vote down a bill that would criminalize wearing the full Muslim veil in all public places in Belgium.

The Canary Islands' treatment of its boat children is a disgrace. It is now almost four years since 30,000 migrants arrived in the Canary Islands, the first EU landfall for boats from West Africa. Since then Spain has repatriated most of them or transferred them to the mainland, and the number of new immigrants has fallen. However, some 500 unaccompanied children remain – children who, under Spanish and international law, are entitled to special protection from the state.

The Irish government should implement the will of the Irish population by liberalizing the country’s restrictive abortions laws. In a survey published today by YouGov, a polling organization, more than 60 percent of those who responded said they support access to abortion in Ireland in cases of rape, incest, fatal fetal abnormalities, or danger to the pregnant woman’s life or health.

Prosecutions of suspects in the racist attacks early this month against migrants in Rosarno, Italy are lagging but But migrants accused of participating in the unrest have already been arrested, tried, and convicted.

The French Immigration Minister’s proposals to address the needs of unaccompanied migrant children held at transit zones, especially airports, falls short of bringing France into compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The European Union should press the newly elected Greek government to end the abusive detention and summary expulsions of migrants, including unaccompanied children, and to reform the country's broken asylum system.

The return of one man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing to Libya, where he got a hero's welcome, has caused an international outcry while the return of hundreds of boat migrants to Libya, where they face certain detention and probable brutal mistreatment, causes nary a peep.

African immigrants who attempt the dangerous boat journey across the Mediterranean to Italy face a double dose of hardship. Since May, if their vessels are intercepted by the Italian authorities, they have been summarily returned to Libya, where migrants typically suffer widespread mistreatment.

The Léger Committee, tasked with drawing the outlines of a broad reform to criminal procedure and which issued its final report on September 1, has recommended narrow adjustments to the rights of those held in police custody that neither go far enough nor apply to everyone.

This submission highlights a number of key areas of concern regarding Italy’s compliance with its international human rights obligations. They concern counter-terrorism policies that violate the absolute prohibition on returns to risk of torture and ill-treatment; abusive interceptions of boat migrants and their summary expulsion to Libya in violation of the right to seek asylum and non-refoulement; and racism and violence against migrants and Roma.

An estimated 150 unaccompanied migrant children being held in a detention center on Lesvos Island were on a hunger strike for four days to protest their living conditions.

Human Rights Watch received reports from a credible source that, in mid-July 2009, police transferred a group of Arabic-speaking people from Chios Island to the Evros border region, where some were secretly forced to cross the border into Turkey.

I am writing to express Human Rights Watch's profound concern at the German government's intention to endorse formally the use of diplomatic assurances in the regulations governing the Residence Act.

With the visit of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to Rome this week, Italy and Libya are celebrating their recently ratified Friendship Treaty. But this pact, which has already resulted in joint naval patrols that run roughshod over refugee and migrant rights - as Tana de Zulueta commented - is hardly cause for celebration.