Ken Roth Of Human Rights Watch On Refugees And Civil Society Crackdowns

Iranian asylum seekers who were caught in Indonesian waters while sailing to Australia, sit on a boat, at Benoa port in Bali, Indonesia. Australia refuses to accept any refugees who attempt to reach its shores by boat, and pays Nauru and Papua New Guinea, which has a detention center on Manus Island, to hold them instead.
Iranian asylum seekers who were caught in Indonesian waters while sailing to Australia, sit on a boat, at Benoa port in Bali, Indonesia. Australia refuses to accept any refugees who attempt to reach its shores by boat, and pays Nauru and Papua New Guinea, which has a detention center on Manus Island, to hold them instead. Firdia Lisnawati / AP Photo
Iranian asylum seekers who were caught in Indonesian waters while sailing to Australia, sit on a boat, at Benoa port in Bali, Indonesia. Australia refuses to accept any refugees who attempt to reach its shores by boat, and pays Nauru and Papua New Guinea, which has a detention center on Manus Island, to hold them instead.
Iranian asylum seekers who were caught in Indonesian waters while sailing to Australia, sit on a boat, at Benoa port in Bali, Indonesia. Australia refuses to accept any refugees who attempt to reach its shores by boat, and pays Nauru and Papua New Guinea, which has a detention center on Manus Island, to hold them instead. Firdia Lisnawati / AP Photo

Ken Roth Of Human Rights Watch On Refugees And Civil Society Crackdowns

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As the European Union works with Turkey on its policy of accepting and returning refugees, Australia has been harshly criticized for what human rights observers call its inhumane immigration laws. 

The country diverts, by-boat, any asylum-seekers to remote detention centers, described by some as “GITMO-like”, to Manus Island or the Pacific island of Nauru. 

Ken Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, declared that Australia is “ripping up the refugee convention.” He joins us to talk about the ongoing refugee crisis and the growing trend of government crackdowns on civil society.