2020 has been a difficult year for many people the world over. A global health pandemic, economic problems and even more people displaced than before were just some of the challenges we all faced. But to try and spread a bit of cheer as the year comes to a close, InfoMigrants decided to look back at some of the positives that people who work with migrants found in this most challenging of years.
Greece says it is abolishing the practice of holding unaccompanied migrant children in police custody. The announcement comes as Europe's top human rights watchdog said Greece was detaining migrants in unacceptable conditions and called for an end to illegal pushbacks.
As part of a larger case involving Syrians, a German citizen is also suing Bashar Assad's security apparatus. Martin Lautwein says he witnessed abuse and killings of other inmates during his 48 days detained in Damascus.
Italian authorities have arrested two men who are accused of holding migrants captive in a detention camp in Libya. Four Bangladeshi migrants recognized the two suspects and said they worked at a camp in central Libya where they were imprisoned and tortured, investigators said.
Human rights organization Amnesty International is accusing the Croatian border police of an unprecedented degree of brutality in their treatment of migrants. The NGO referred to personal accounts of six Pakistanis and Afghans as well as statements by attending physicians.
For the first time anywhere, Syrian intelligence officers are facing trial — in Germany. The court aims to probe the defendant's alleged crimes as well as cast light on Bashar Assad's system of torture and oppression.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), more than 200,000 people have been displaced in the past 12 months. The coronavirus pandemic appears to further complicate the situation in the war-torn country.
A report by the organization Doctors for Human Rights has found that 85% of migrants and refugees who reached Italy from Libya had been subjected to torture in the African country.
Italian authorities have arrested a Libyan citizen after a Somali immigrant accused him of torturing people at a "Safe House" in Libya.
A recent report released by the Council of Europe has called on the Danish government to improve the conditions in two of its migrant detention centers.
The European Union started pouring money to Libya to improve the conditions in the detention centers and to stop the flow of migrants to Europe. But an Associated Press (AP) investigation has found that parts of these funds have facilitated an intertwined and highly lucrative web of businesses that thrive on the misery of migrants in Libya.
Libyan Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed Maiteeq told DW in an exclusive interview that there was "no slavery" in Libya - following multiple reports surfacing from the country over the past two years accusing it of ignoring the fact that migrants are being subjected to grave human rights abuses including forced labor and sexual abuse.