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Déjà vu on the Greek-Turkey Border

Long Past Time to Put an End to Brutal Treatment of Migrants, Asylum Seekers

Ten years ago, I documented a systematic pattern of brutal Greek border police pushbacks of migrants and asylum seekers at the Evros River border that divides Greece and Turkey. Last week, as I edited a new Human Rights Watch report, I…
Migrants that crossed the land border between Greece and Turkey are seen at the Pre-Removal Detention Center in the village of Fylakio, Northern Greece, February 24, 2017.
News

Sudan’s Many Nouras

Teenager Noura Hussein Faces Death for Killing Husband Who Raped Her

International media has rightly focused on the case of Noura Hussein, a 19-year-old Sudanese woman sentenced to death for killing her husband – whom she’d been forced to marry – as he tried to rape her. The court which tried…
A woman carries water in Al Fashir, capital of North Darfur, Sudan, September 6, 2016.
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‘My Brother is Being Deported Today’

Iranian Asylum Seeker’s Case Shows Flaws of EU-Turkey Deal

Yesterday I woke up to an alarming text message: “Hi, call me please. My brother today [will be] deported [to] Turkey.” The text was from Arash, a 30-year-old Iranian asylum seeker stuck on the Greek island of Lesbos, who was desperate…
2016-4-eca-deportation-1
News

Syrian Refugee Kids Still Out of School in Turkey

Biggest Barrier to Children’s Education is Parents Out of Work

More than 40 percent of Syrian refugee children are still not going to school. That’s according to a new UNICEF report, which says that while Turkey has seen a 50 percent increase in school attendance for Syrian refugee children since last June, far too…
Maya, 9, reads a school textbook in her family home. She enjoys attending her local public school in izmir, on turkey’s west coast, where she is one of four Syrian students in her class.
News

Dispatches: EU Deportations Resume, Troubles Abound

With little fanfare or media attention, the European Union and Greece yesterday quietly resumed deporting “irregular migrants” from Greece to Turkey. After a two-week pause, boats reportedly took 31 people from Kos, 13 from Lesbos…
A Frontex officer (L) escorts a deportee onto a boat on the Greek island of Lesbos, April 4, 2016.
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Dispatches: ISIS Knocks on the Door of Turkey’s “Safe Zone”

Things are bad when Syrian government barrel bombs rain down on your home and force you to flee to a displaced persons camp. Things are really bad when ISIS comes to your camp and orders you to leave. But when Turkish border troops – working with the…
Ikdah camp in Syria near Turkish border
News

Dispatches: Start of Dodgy EU-Turkey Migrant Deal

The first returns of migrants - including perhaps some asylum seekers - from Greece to Turkey seem as dodgy as the EU-Turkey deal itself. And it will likely get worse. On the island of Lesbos, the EU and Greece staged a show…
Migrants look through a fence from inside the Moria registration centre for refugees and migrants on the Greek island of Lesbos, Greece April 4, 2016.
News

Dispatches: Zika Warnings Versus Realities Women Face

The rapid spread of the Zika virus has raised concern among public health officials across the Americas. The World Health Organization warned Sunday that the virus is likely to spread further across the region. At first glance,…
A woman walks away from her apartment as health workers fumigates the Altos del Cerro neighborhood as part of preventive measures against the Zika virus and other mosquito-borne diseases in Soyapango, El Salvador January 21, 2016.
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Dispatches: Risks of the EU-Turkey Migration Deal

Yesterday, the European Union and Turkey reached an agreement designed to curb the flow of migrants to Europe and to Turkey. But the deal carries huge risks for Turkey, the EU, and above all refugees and asylum seekers. …
Turkish Gendarmes lead a group of refugees to buses to prevent them from sailing off for the Greek island of Chios by dinghies, at a beach in the western Turkish coastal town of Cesme.
News

Dispatches: Why I Shared a Horrific Photo of a Drowned Syrian Child

I thought long and hard before I retweeted the photo of 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi. It shows the lifeless toddler, lying face down on a popular Turkish beach, one of eleven Syrians who have almost certainly died as they tried to reach safety in Europe by…
A man carries the body of a dead Syrian boy who died at sea.
News

Dispatches: Alarm Bells Over Abuse as Venezuela Expels Colombians

The state of emergency President Nicolás Maduro declared days ago for the Venezuelan border area should have raised red flags internationally. But it didn’t, and credible allegations of human rights violations are on the rise. The emergency…
Venezuela deportations
News

Dispatches: Will Sudan Allow Rights Experts To Do Their Job?

Sudan is set to receive not just one, but three visits from international human rights experts this month: the United Nations special rapporteur on violence against women and the independent expert on Sudan, as well as the African Commission on Human and…
News

Dispatches: Stopping ‘Pushbacks’ at Bulgaria’s Border

Two Iraqi men died from hypothermia at the border between Bulgaria and Turkey, after Bulgarian border guards allegedly beat the Iraqis when they attempted to cross into Bulgaria – an incident that is only the latest horrible reminder of the crisis at…
News

Dispatches: Israel Fails African Asylum Seekers

If you are an Eritrean or Sudanese asylum seeker waiting to hear your fate, statistics suggest that in most countries you’ll get a positive reply: 83 percent of Eritreans and 67 percent of Sudanese going through asylum screening are accepted as refugees.…
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Fact Sheet: Past U.S. Criticism of Military Tribunals

(Washington, DC) - Under President Bush's November 13th Military Order on military commissions, any foreign national designated by the President as a suspected terrorist or as aiding terrorists could potentially be detained, tried, convicted and even…

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