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Interview: “An ‘Island Prison’ is Not the Answer”

Bill Frelick, director of the refugee rights program at Human Rights Watch, spent 10 days in May at the world's largest refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. He recently spoke to Nazish Dholakia about what he saw, the risks the Rohingya refugees face, and Bangladesh’s misguided plans to relocate refugees to a flood-prone island. 

READ THE INTERVIEW HERE

Interactives More Interactives

  • Saving Lives at Sea

    Saving Lives at Sea

    Metal towers of lights reached out of the sea and flames belched into the midnight sky as the Aquarius reached Bouri Field, the largest oilfield in the Mediterranean, about 65 nautical miles north of Libya. I had been sitting cross-legged on deck of this rescue ship, listening to a group of West African men telling unbearable stories of captivity and brutality in Libya, the country they had just fled. Amadou concluded, to earnest nods all around, “God left Libya a long time ago.”

  • Exodus: Asylum Seekers Flee Into Europe

    Exodus: Asylum Seekers Flee Into Europe

    “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.

  • Fleeing Syria and Stranded in Hungary

    Fleeing Syria and Stranded in Hungary

    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. >>

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