Director
Refugee and Migrant Rights Division
Human Rights Watch
Friends of the Refugee and Migrant Rights Division April 2020 Newsletter
Dear Friends,
First, I hope all of you are in good health and will stay that way. Around the world, all eyes are on the spread of the COVID-19 virus. The pandemic is challenging families, communities, health care systems, and governments. There is no doubting the severity of the public health crisis we are facing, not only for each of you, but in many ways, especially, for the refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants we serve.
You can find Human Rights Watch’s work on the coronavirus here.
Going forward, I will be doing advocacy work relating to COVID-19 and migrants, and am looking at doing a global project focused on alternatives to immigration detention. Nadia Hardman, see below for intro, is collaborating with our Lebanon researcher on a project on Coronavirus-related discriminatory restrictions on Syrian refugees in Lebanon. She will also be working with our Asia Division on COVID19-related discriminatory restrictions on IDPs in Rakhine state, Myanmar, and on Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. As the #stayhome hashtag circulates on twitter, we will demonstrate how difficult it is for refugee and migrants living in crowded and confined spaces with limited access to basic hygiene and sanitation, to conform to social distancing and other public health recommendations. In this time of crisis, no one should be left behind.
We have two major updates to share with you outside of our COVID-19 response. As you can see up top, we have a new name: The Refugee and Migrant Rights Division. In fact, although we previously were only called Refugee Rights, we have worked on migrant rights all along. I’m happy to report that Human Rights Watch has taken a decision to make the rights of migrants a cross-divisional priority for the organization and so our colleagues throughout the organization will be devoting additional resources to this work, which is critically important, now more than ever.
I also want to introduce you to our new Refugee and Migrant Rights researcher, Nadia Hardman. Nadia comes to us from the International Rescue Committee, where she was a senior protection officer for Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Before that, she worked with internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Iraq, based in Mosul, with the Norwegian Refugee Council. Nadia has worked with refugee and IDP populations in Myanmar, Thailand, and Palestine and was a Program Lawyer for the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute working on rule of law issues in Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Egypt, and Tajikistan. She is a qualified UK lawyer with a Masters in Human Rights from University College London. She speaks fluent French and Italian and will be based in our Beirut office.
Nadia recently returned from Turkey where she and Gerry Simpson were researching pushbacks from the Greek border. She and Gerry wrote Greece: Violence Against Asylum Seekers at Border: Detained, Assaulted, Stripped, Summarily Deported and produced this compelling video while there. In introducing the report, Nadia said, “The European Union is hiding behind a shield of Greek security force abuse instead of helping Greece protect asylum seekers and relocate them safely throughout the EU. The EU should protect people in need rather than support forces who beat, rob, strip, and dump asylum seekers and migrants back across the river.”
Simultaneously with Gerry and Nadia’s work in Turkey, I was on the island of Lesbos in Greece documenting vigilante violence against refugees and migrants and the humanitarian NGOs who serve them. While there, I wrote Gunshots, summary trials, deportations: the reality for refugees in the EU-Turkey stand-off for Euro News and this accompanying video(with apologies for my thumb in the lens). Just before the full threat of Coronavirus seized everyone’s attention, I spent time in the severely overcrowded and unsanitary Moria camp where I recorded this video on the mob violence that was causing humanitarian organizations to suspend their operations and deepening anxiety and lack of adequate services in the camp. As bad as things were for the 20,000 or so people living in the Moria camp, built to accommodate fewer than 3,000, things appeared even worse for new arrivals who were not allowed to lodge asylum claims and who the Greek government was threatening to send directly back to Turkey or their home countries. I did this video about the first arrivals who were being kept on a naval vessel docked at the Mytilene harbor. The PBS Newshour did a piece on Moria camp/Lesbos, which includes my take on the situation there.I went on TRT and discussed the EU announcement that they were prepared to pay migrants in Greece US$2,225 if they volunteered to go back to their home countries.
Of course, our work on the rest of the world continues. I particularly wanted to draw your attention to the landmark report from our US Program colleagues, Alison Parker and Elizabeth Kennedy, Deported to Danger: United States Deportation Policies Expose Salvadorans to Death and Abuse, a report that identified 138 cases of Salvadorans who had been killed since 2013 after being deported from the United States.
We have been actively engaged in fighting the various Trump administration initiatives to eviscerate the right to seek asylum in the United States and to bring refugee resettlement to a virtual standstill. We are currently working on the asylum cooperative agreements that the United States has concluded with El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala after much arm twisting, as well as the Remain in Mexico program that has stranded thousands of asylum seekers just across the US southern border. See the links below for publications relating to this work.
For those with a taste for longer range thinking about what is needed to fix the US asylum system, please check out my What’s Wrong with Temporary Protected Status and How to Fix It: Exploring a Complementary Protection Regime in the Journal of Migration and Human Security and, Central American Women Fleeing Domestic Violence Deserve Refugee Status in The Hill, in which I argue that gender should be recognized comparably as a protected ground for asylum as race, nationality or religion. And for those looking for ideas on how to reform the international refugee regime, please check It is Time to Change the Definition of Refugee: Climate Change is an Existential Threat to Humanity Should Be Included in Legislation on Asylum Seeking, which I did for Al-Jazeera.
Below my signature is a selection of some more of our work during the past several months to defend the rights of refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants around the world.
We realize that many of the people on this mailing list are themselves engaged in non-profit humanitarian and human rights work relating to refugees and displaced people, and are not in a position to help us financially. However, if you think this work is worthwhile and you are able to contribute to enable us to continue to conduct research and effective advocacy on these and other important issues, we ask our friends to consider contributing to support Human Rights Watch’s Refugee and Migrant Rights Division. You can do so simply by clicking the Donate button at the end of my signature.
Follow @Nadia_Hardman and @BillFrelick on Twitter for updates on human rights issues concerning migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees.
With best regards,
Bill Frelick
Director
Refugee and Migrant Rights Division
Human Rights Watch
1275 K Street, NW
Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20005
Tel: 202-612-4344
Mobile: 240-593-1747
Skype: bill.frelick
Fax: 202-612-4333
Follow on Twitter: BillFrelick
Web: www.hrw.org
Global
December 24, 2019 Refugees All Over the World Pressured to Go Back Home in 2019
Europe/Central Asia
March 17, 2020 Greece: Violence Against Asylum Seekers at Border
March 16, 2020 Greek Vessel Takes Syrians, Afghans to Closed Camp
March 12, 2020 US: COVID-19 Threatens People Behind Bars
March 10, 2020 Greece/EU: Allow New Arrivals to Claim Asylum
March 6, 2020 Interview: What’s Happening to Refugees in Greece
March 6, 2020 Gunshots, Summary Trials, Deportations
March 4, 2020 Greece/EU: Urgently Relocate Lone Children
March 4, 2020 Greece/EU: Respect Rights, Ease Suffering at Borders
February 18, 2020 EU Turns Its Back on Migrants in Distress
February 12, 2020 Italy: Halt Abusive Migration Cooperation with Libya
January 31, 2020 Italy: Revoke Abusive Anti-Asylum Decrees
January 20, 2020 Britain Cannot Turn Its Back on Lone Children Now
January 9, 2020 Kazakhstan: Improper Prosecution of Asylum Seekers from China
December 18, 2019 Greece: Unaccompanied Children at Risk
December 17, 2019 Rohingya Children Need an Advocate in Brussels
December 4, 2019 France Drops Plan to Give Boats to Libya
December 4, 2019 Greece: Camp Conditions Endanger Women, Girls
November 8, 2019 EU: Address Croatia Border Pushbacks
October 29, 2019 Greece: Asylum Overhaul Threatens Rights
October 24, 2019 Turkey: Syrians Being Deported to Danger
October 19, 2019 Bosnia Should Immediately Close Inhumane Migrant Camp
October 3, 2019 EU Governments Face Crucial Decision on Shared Sea Rescue Responsibility
September 5, 2019 Italy’s New Government Should Undo Its Worst Migration Policies
September 5, 2019 Subject to Whim: The Treatment of Unaccompanied Migrant Children in the French Hautes-Alpes
Asia/Pacific
February 13, 2020 Christians Abducted, Attacked in Bangladesh Refugee Camp
January 29, 2020 A Step Forward for 10,000 Rohingya Refugee Children
January 28, 2020 It Is Time to Change the Definition of Refugee
January 14, 2020 Australia: National Security Laws Chill Free Speech
January 14, 2020 Myanmar: Seeking International Justice for Rohingya
December 16, 2019 “I’m Happy, But I Am Also Broken for Those Left Behind”: Life After Manus and Nauru
December 3, 2019 “Are We Not Human?”: Denial of Education for Rohingya Refugee Children in Bangladesh
December 2, 2019 Bangladesh: Rohingya Children Denied Education
November 26, 2019 Bangladesh Turning Refugee Camps into Open-Air Prisons
November 13, 2019 Papua New Guinea: Detainees Denied Lawyers, Family Access
November 12, 2019 South Korea Deports Two From North to Likely Abuse
September 30, 2019 Bangladesh: Halt Plans to Fence-In Rohingya Refugees
September 13, 2019 Bangladesh: Internet Blackout on Rohingya Refugees
September 7, 2019 Bangladesh: Clampdown on Rohingya Refugees
September 2, 2019 “Where His Blood Fell”: A Rohingya Widow’s Call for Justice
August 22, 2019 Myanmar: Crimes Against Rohingya Go Unpunished
August 20, 2019 Myanmar/Bangladesh: Halt Rohingya Returns
Middle East/Africa
March 5, 2020 Interview: Libya’s Chaos Explained
December 20, 2019 Winter Looms For Lebanon’s Syrian Refugees
December 12, 2019 Tanzania: Burundians Pressured into Leaving
November 27, 2019 Kurdistan Region of Iraq: Refugees’ Movements Restricted
November 7, 2019 “Repatriation” of Syrians in Turkey Needs EU Action
October 29, 2019 Tanzania: Asylum Seekers Coerced into Going Home
September 19, 2019 Tanzania: Protect Burundians Facing Abuse
September 11, 2019 Justice, Delayed in Libya
August 15, 2019 Ethiopians Abused on Gulf Migration Route
Americas
March 3, 2020 Children Sent to Mexico Under Trump Face Abuses, Trauma
February 12, 2020 US: ‘Remain in Mexico’ Program Harming Children
February 10, 2020 The US Deported Them, Ignoring Their Pleas. Then They Were Killed.
February 7, 2020 US Congress Investigates Policy Harming Asylum Seekers
February 5, 2020 Deported to Danger: United States Deportation Policies Expose Salvadorans to Death and Abuse
February 5, 2020 US: Deported Salvadorans Abused, Killed
January 29, 2020 Q&A: Trump Administration’s “Remain in Mexico” Program
January 29, 2020 US: Returns to Mexico Threaten Rights, Security
January 14, 2020 US: Punitive Policies Undercut Rights
December 9, 2019 Utah Governor to Trump: ‘Allow Us to Accept More Refugees’
December 6, 2019 Brazil Grants Asylum to 21,000 Venezuelans in a Single Day
November 25, 2019 US Should Cease Returning Asylum Seekers to Mexico
November 18, 2019 America Should Not Lag Behind on Protecting Children
November 16, 2019 US to Refugees: Poor Asylum Seekers Need Not Apply
October 18, 2019 Cuban Man Dies in US Immigration Custody
October 14, 2019 US Columbus Day Holiday Celebrates a Shameful Past
September 27, 2019 US Refugee Action Has Worldwide Impact
September 25, 2019 US Move Puts More Asylum Seekers at Risk
September 3, 2019 US: Suit Over Indefinite Detention of Children
August 31, 2019 The Long Journey to the US Border
August 21, 2019 US: New Rules Allow Indefinite Detention of Children
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Thanks to my good friend and tireless human rights warrior Debi Sanders for sending this my way.
Check out Bill’s latest op-ed over at The Hill here:
PWS
04-16-20
Very nice and well written, We should know about our rights.
Absolutely!
To be honest, in basically obliterating asylum protections and immigration protections, the Trump Administration relies on individuals being unable or unwilling to assert their legal rights.
Thanks for the comment. Bill and HRW do exceptional work for our nation!
Best,
PWS