Turkey Moves to Clamp Down on Border, Long a Revolving Door By TIM ARANGO, New York Times 22 December 2015 Photo A Turkish Coast Guard searchlight exposed a boat carrying Syrian migrants. Turkey has been tightening its borders. Credit: Tolga Bozoglu/European Pressphoto Agency   IZMIR, Turkey — The Turkish Coast Guard has stepped up nighttime patrols on the choppy, wintry waters of the Aegean Sea, seizing rafts full of refugees fleeing war

Migrant crisis: One million enter Europe in 2015 BBC 22 December 2015 Image copyright 2015 EPAImage caption: Migrants and refugees continue to arrive through Greek islands like Lesbos, from where they are moved by ferry to Athens  The number of migrants and refugees crossing into Europe by land and sea this year illegally has passed one million, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) says. This represents a fourfold rise on the

Whose Lives Matter? When refugees die on Europe’s borders, the West wants to act, but when Assad rains barrel bombs on Homs, no one cares. By STEPHEN M. WALT, Foreign Policy November 2, 2015 The world has no shortage of victims of terrible tragedies these days. Death tolls are rising in places from Syria to Sudan and some 60 million people have been displaced from their homes worldwide. But which of these people will get widespread support and

Turkish Leader Says E.U. Should Do more about Syria James Kanter and Tim Arango 5 October, 2015   Image: Migrants arrived by rubber raft on a northern shore of the Greek island of Lesbos last week after battling rough seas and high winds on their journey from Turkey.CreditTyler Hicks/The New York Times BRUSSELS — Under pressure to help Europe control its worst refugee crisis since World War II, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkeyturned

For Christians and Yazidis Fleeing Genocide, the Obama Administration Has No Room at the Inn Nina Shea, National Review 22 September  2015   Image: Father Ragheed Ganni was killed by Islamists in Mosul in 2007. National Review copyright The Obama administration maintains that its principal strategic response to the conflict in Syria is humanitarian, not military, and focused on human rights. In Syria as well as Iraq, the consequences of this

Migrants Clash With Police in Hungary, as Others Enter Croatia Rick Lyman and Helene Bienvenu, New York Times 16 September 2015   Image: Hungarian riot police officers pushed back migrants near the town of Horgos, on the Serbian border, on Wednesday. Credit Armend Nimani/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images HORGOS, Serbia — In one of the worst bursts of violence that this tense refugee summer has seen, Hungarian riot police responded on

Compassion for Refugees Isn’t Enough Nicholas Kristof, New York Times 10 September 2015   Image: Syrians walk amid the rubble of destroyed buildings in Douma, Syria. Credit Abd Doumany/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images   Bravo to Pope Francis, Angela Merkel and so many ordinary Germans and Austrians who have welcomed refugees into their lands. Kudos to those American politicians acknowledging that we should accept more Syrian refugees

Europe Seeks U.N. Blessing to Use Military to Halt Smugglers at Sea Somini Sengupta, New York Times 10 September, 2015   Image: Hellenic American Leadership Council   UNITED NATIONS — European countries are pushing for a United Nations Security Council resolution to allow their military forces to apprehend human-smuggling vessels in the international waters of the Mediterranean Sea, diplomats here said. The draft resolution, which is

Bodies in the Desert By Tsega Gebreyesus, John Hopkins Public Health July 11, 2014 Thousands of asylum-seeking Eritreans, Ethiopians and Sudanese have been kidnapped and tortured in the Sinai Peninsula. Survivors suffer years of mental anguish and live a stateless, hand-to-mouth existence. The human trafficking chain must be stopped. The truck stopped at 2 a.m. somewhere in the Sudanese desert. The trafficker called to the six women in the back

America Has Always Been a Refuge from Violence By Layal Razavi, ACLU July 8, 2014 This past weekend's Fourth of July holiday made me nostalgic for the Independence Day celebrations of my childhood. My parents are immigrants from Iran, and the Fourth was a big deal. We would barbeque kabob and rice at the beach in San Diego and watch the fireworks, lying side-by-side on the grass. It was celebration of freedom in the county that had welcomed my parents