Just last month, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev gave more than 200 apartments away free to journalists and accepted a “friend of journalists” award in return. He claimed that thousands of press agencies operate in Azerbaijan. But in fact, Azerbaijan has a long record of state antagonism toward independent and opposition media.
Automatic Detention, Obstacles to Seeking Asylum
Police Abuses Against Child and Adult Migrants in Calais
Flawed Procedures Leave Those on Lesbos at Risk of Abuse
When Ekaterina Vologzheninova posted a satirical cartoon criticizing Russia’s involvement in Ukraine on her social media page, she had no idea what was coming next.
When I spoke to Yulia Galyamina, she was in the hospital with a concussion and other injuries received after a riot police officer hit her in the face with a powerful blow. She still felt dizzy and achy, and several of her teeth were wobbly. As she recalled the events of that afternoon, Yulia, who is in her mid-40s, was often close to crying.
“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.
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. >>
Although people with disabilities in Russia have seen improvements since the end of the Soviet era, they remain largely cut off from society.
