[JURIST] Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] reported Wednesday that asylum-seekers and migrants fleeing war-torn countries are suffering abuse at the hands of Serbian authorities [press release]. Most of the asylum-seekers are Syrian or Afghan, travelling through Serbia to seek shelter in western European states. Based on interviews with 81 asylum-seekers, HRW stated that there is widespread extortion and abuse, including physical violence, by Serbian police. The Serbian police have denied the allegations [AP report], stating that they have received no complaints from asylum-seekers of ill treatment.

The number of asylum-seekers in recent years has grown substantially with the increase in conflicts around the world. In March the UN refugee agency released a report identifying a significant increase in asylum applications to industrialized countries [JURIST report] as a result of the displacement effectuated primarily by the wars in Syria and Iraq. In February Amnesty International reported that Bulgarian authorities fail to address hate crimes [JURIST report] against asylum-seekers. In January the High Court of Australia ruled that the off-shore detention of more than 150 ethnic Tamil refugees [JURIST report] aboard an Australian Customs and Border Protection Servicevessel was lawful under the Maritime Powers Act of 2013. Earlier that month, HRW reported that French police were abusing and harassing asylum seekers [JURIST report] in the port city of Calais.