Relatives and villagers gather around the coffin of Balkisun Mandal Khatwe, who died while working as a migrant in Qatar, Saptari, Nepal, Nov. 23, 2016 (AP photo by Niranjan Shrestha).

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series about workers’ rights in various countries around the world. For several years, Qatar has come under fire for the pervasive exploitation of migrant workers, including much-maligned systems that prevent them from leaving even after they’ve been abused. Late last year, the country adopted changes to labor regulations, though rights groups contend the country has left some of the worst aspects of the old system in place. In an email interview, Vani Saraswathi, associate editor of the online advocacy platform Migrant-Rights.org and an adviser to grassroots advocacy projects in Qatar, […]

People stand for a moment of silence during the one-year anniversary of the Brussels attacks, Brussels, Belgium, March 22, 2017 (AP photo by Geert Vanden Wijngaert).

One year ago, a series of terrorist attacks struck the Brussels international airport and a metro station, killing 35 and injuring hundreds. The incident occurred just months after Belgium was thrust into the center of discussions about the terror threat facing Europe, when it was revealed that a Belgian national had coordinated attacks on a concert hall and other sites in Paris, killing 130 people and injuring hundreds more. That man, 27-year-old Abdelhamid Abaaoud, was among the many Belgian citizens who had gone to Syria and Iraq to fight with the so-called Islamic State, making Belgium Europe’s largest per capita […]

African refugees and migrants, mostly from Sudan and Senegal, wait aboard a rubber boat to be assisted by an NGO, off the Libyan coast, Feb. 23, 2016 (AP photo by Santi Palacios).

Waves of violence and economic hardship are changing patterns of migration around the world, at a moment when parties with nationalist and anti-immigrant platforms gain momentum in the West. World Politics Review compiled 15 articles that shed light on the drivers of today’s migrant crises and the forces underpinning an increasingly cold response to those seeking refuge. The Politics of Migration Understanding the Global Backlash Against Migration—and Its Costs U.S. President Donald Trump’s January entry ban for travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries focused attention on a looming shift in American immigration policy. But these developments are not occurring in a […]