Tens of thousands of people are fleeing civil war and unrest to find new homes in Europe—sometimes with tragic consequences. The U.N. estimates that more people have been displaced than at any time since World War II. Scroll down to see the stories on this topic.
A Turkish officer carries the body of a migrant child near Bodrum Wednesday. (AP)
The boy was found today on a beach near the Turkish resort of Bodrum. He was reported to be one of at least 12 Syrians who drowned while trying to reach Greece.
Just last month, 107,500 migrants crossed into Europe, and the U.N. estimates that the number of refugees and migrants crossing the Mediterranean this year exceeds 300,000. Nearly 2,000 landed in Greece overnight.
We decided to look at where the migrants are coming from and which EU countries they are going to using data for the first quarter of this year from Eurostat, the EU’s statistical agency. Here’s what we found:
Europe’s refugee crisis has been described as the worst of its kind since World War II, at the end of which there were more than 40 million refugees in the region.
The crisis led to the creation of international laws and organizations that would become the foundation of the world’s refugee response today.
In 1943, the U.N. established a branch to provide humanitarian aid to refugees liberated by Allied forces. It was soon replaced by the International Refugee Organization, which became the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in 1950.
After the war, hundreds of thousands of Jews who survived the Holocaust were living in displaced-persons centers in Allied-occupied parts of Germany, Austria and Italy. They were transported to France, Belgium, and Greece.
In Eastern Europe, Germans either fled or were expelled from their home countries, writes Bernard Wasserstein, a University of Chicago history professor. Yugoslavia removed nearly all of its 500,000 Germans. Romania reduced its pre-war population of 780,000 by more than half. Czechoslovakia expelled 2.2. million Germans.
“At the peak period, in July 1946, 14,400 people a day were being dumped over the frontier” in Germany, Wasserstein writes. By 1950, 11.5 million Germans had left Eastern Europe.
Polish communities were also forced out. The Soviet Union expelled almost 2 million Poles, 500,000 Ukrainians and others from parts of the country it had annexed. Meanwhile, the Allied nations returned more than 2 million Soviet citizens to areas under Soviet control in exchange for citizens of Western countries.
Here’s Wasserstein again, on where the refugees ended up:
By 1959 some 900,000 European refugees had been absorbed by west European countries. In addition, 461,000 had been accepted by the USA, and a further 523,000 by other countries. But many 'hard-core' refugees still remained in camps.
Fast-forward to 2014: 219,000 refugees crossed the Mediterranean into Europe, the U.N. says. So far this year, more than 300,000 people have made that journey, many of them from fleeing Syria and Libya to escape civil wars.
Last June, the U.N. reported that the global number of refugees, people seeking asylum, and people displaced within their own countries had, for the first time since the post-WWII era, exceeded 50 million people.
Migrants face Hungarian police in the main railway station in Budapest on Tuesday. (Laszlo Balogh / Reuters)
Hungary has closed the main train station in Budapest to migrants—many of them refugees—to prevent them from traveling through the European Union.
The move appears to be an attempt by the country, itself an EU member, to enforce the rules of the bloc, which requires that migrants be first processed in the EU country they enter. Hungary had earlier allowed the migrants to board trains without registering them or checking their paperwork.
Earlier today 3,650 migrants reached Vienna, and many of them boarded trains that would take them to Germany—which is expecting to take in 800,000 refugees this year.
Many of those coming to Europe are fleeing civil wars in Syria and Libya. Others are fleeing unrest in Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere. The flow of people has been described as the world’s worst migrant crisis since World War II.
Hungary’s decision to close off the Keleti station in Budapest to the migrants sparked protests. They chanted “Germany” and waved their train tickets, the BBC reported:
About 1,000 migrants congregated outside Keleti station, in the east of the city, as it was evacuated on Tuesday.
It was closed briefly and public announcements said no trains would be leaving.
But it soon reopened to non-migrant passengers, with lines of police preventing migrants from going through the main entrance.
The move came amid chaotic scenes after hundreds of migrants had tried to board services to Austria and Germany.
Some complained that they had paid hundreds of euros for tickets, and called for the station to be reopened so that they could continue their journey.
Many of the migrants have been waiting at Keleti station for days. Reporters said they are mainly Syrians, Afghans and Eritreans.
As we have been reporting, 107,500 migrants crossed into Europe last month. The U.N. estimates that the number of refugees and migrants crossing the Mediterranean this year exceeds 300,000.
EU officials will meet in Brussels on September 14 to discuss the crisis, which was exacerbated last week when the bodies of 71 refugees was discovered in an abandoned truck in Austria.
Refugees from the Middle East walk on railway tracks in Roszke, Hungary, on Sunday. (Darko Bandic / AP)
EU officials will meet for an emergency session in Brussels on September 14 as Europe tries to tackle the flow of people—many of them fleeing civil wars in Syria and Libya—into the region.
The announcement comes following last week’s discovery in Austria of the bodies of 71 migrants in an abandoned truck, and after hundreds of people died when the boats carrying them capsized in the Mediterranean.
The Luxembourg EU presidency announced the September 14 meeting— which will bring together the bloc’s justice and interior ministers—after a special request by Britain, France and Germany.
“The situation of migration phenomena outside and inside the European Union has recently taken unprecedented proportions,” the Luxembourg EU presidency said in a statement. It added that the meeting will discuss “the return policy, international cooperation, and investigation and measures to prevent trafficking of migrants.”
As we have previously noted, the world is in the midst of the worst refugee crisis since World War II. Migrants are trying to escape civil wars in Syria and Libya, and instability in other parts of the Middle East and Africa.
Many of them pay human traffickers large sums of money to take them to a Europe that is increasingly unable to cope with the flow. Just last month, 107,500 migrants crossed into Europe. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that the number of refugees and migrants crossing the Mediterranean this year exceeds 300,000.
Last week’s discovery of the 71 bodies—among them children—put a human face on the issue. As my colleague Uri Friedman noted:
Embedded in … [the] horrific news is a harrowing reality: The 71 migrants who perished en route to Austria were escaping a hell they must have considered far worse than the forbidding truck they crowded into.
The artist Banksy posted his own take on the EU’s response the migrant crisis. It’s not complimentary.
A great deal—even though the terms are often used interchangeably.
But the distinction becomes important because the world is witnessing the worst refugee crisis since World War II—one with sometimes-tragic consequences. Here’s how the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees defines refugees:
Refugees are persons fleeing armed conflict or persecution. … Their situation is often so perilous and intolerable that they cross national borders to seek safety in nearby countries, and thus become internationally recognized as “refugees” with access to assistance from States, UNHCR, and other organizations. They are so recognized precisely because it is too dangerous for them to return home, and they need sanctuary elsewhere. These are people for whom denial of asylum has potentially deadly consequences.
Migrants, on the other hand, “choose to move not because of a direct threat of persecution or death, but mainly to improve their lives by finding work, or in some cases for education, family reunion, or other reasons.” The UN agency continues:
Unlike refugees who cannot safely return home, migrants face no such impediment to return. If they choose to return home, they will continue to receive the protection of their government.
Countries grant refugees certain protections under their international treaty obligations. This is why some states are reluctant to grant those people who are fleeing unrest in their home countries refugee status. Here’s more from the UN agency:
Politics has a way of intervening in such debates. Conflating refugees and migrants can have serious consequences for the lives and safety of refugees. Blurring the two terms takes attention away from the specific legal protections refugees require. It can undermine public support for refugees and the institution of asylum at a time when more refugees need such protection than ever before.
But who you are can sometimes dictate how you are perceived. Here’s Karl Sharro, a London-based satirist and architect:
People light candles Thursday in front of the police station in Eisenstadt, Austria, in tribute to the migrants whose bodies were found inside an abandoned truck. (Ronald Zak / AP)
Authorities say the truck left the Hungarian capital, Budapest, on Wednesday, and entered Austria later that night. Police discovered the bodies Thursday morning when they were called to look into an abandoned truck on the side of the highway.
The bodies were decomposing. Officials initially said the number of people inside was between 20 and 50. Today they said there were 71: 59 men, eight women, and four children.
Hans Peter Doskozil, the police chief in Burgenland province, said today a travel document that was found in the vehicle suggests the migrants were Syrian. He said preliminary analysis showed the refrigerated truck did not have ventilation, and the migrants probably suffocated. They were dead for between 1½ and two days, he said.
“We are talking about a Bulgarian-Hungarian human-trafficking operation,” Doskozil said.
As we told you yesterday, the world is in the midst of the worst refugee crisis since World War II. Migrants are trying to escape civil wars in Syria and Libya, and instability in other parts of the Middle East and Africa.
Many of them pay human traffickers large sums of money to take them to a Europe that is increasingly unable to cope with the flow. Here’s more from the Guardian:
Berlin, backed by Austria, wants a new system of mandatory quotas for refugees across the EU despite the issue being rejected in acrimonious scenes by EU leaders at a summit in June. Germany expects 800,000 asylum applications this year. The EU has also proposed a common “safe countries of origin” list, which would see migrants from these nations swiftly deported.
With the EU’s common border policy increasingly dysfunctional, member states are taking matters into their own hands. Hungary is building a new fence along its border with Serbia, though this week refugees got through with relative ease.
Separately, hundreds of migrants are believed to have died when the two boats that were carrying them sank yesterday off Libya.
Ibrahim al-Attoushi, an official with the Red Crescent, said 198 people had been rescued, 82 bodies had been recovered, and about 100 people are still missing. The BBC adds:
The UN says about 2,400 migrants have died trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe so far this year.
More than 100,000 others have landed in Italy, whilst another 160,000 have crossed to Greece.
Melissa Fleming, a spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, said at a press briefing in Geneva today that the number of refugees and migrants crossing the Mediterranean this year exceeds 300,000. She said almost 200,000 people have landed in Greece; 110,000 in Italy. In all of 2014, she said, around 219,000 people crossed the Mediterranean.
Hans Peter Doskozil, who heads the police department in Burgenland district, said the deaths occurred some time ago. He said the bodies were decomposing, and that there are at least 20 of them. The toll could rise to between 40 and 50, he said.
“We can make no concrete assumptions about the origin or cause [of death],” he said. “We can assume, however, that they are refugees.”
Local media reported the refrigerated truck was abandoned Wednesday on the side of a highway between the towns of Neusiedl and Parndorf. It was discovered by a road worker who noticed a liquid dripping from the back. Police are looking for its driver.
The truck had Hungarian plate , and was previously owned by a Slovakian poultry company that said it sold the vehicle last year. Hungarian officials say the vehicle is now registered to a Romanian.
European officials said the discovery underscored the need for united action on dealing with the continent’s refugee flow.
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, who is attending the Vienna meeting, said she was “shaken by the awful news.”
“This reminds us that we in Europe need to tackle the problem quickly and find solutions in the spirit of solidarity,” she said.
Johannes Hahn, the EU’s enlargement commissioner, tweeted:
Last month, a record 107,500 migrants crossed into the EU. The crisis has been sparked by the civil wars in Libya and Syria, as well as unrest in the Middle East and Africa. The migrants are aided by smugglers who transport them into Europe often via trucks. European officials are deeply divided on how to tackle the issue.
Austria and Germany want quotas that would ensure the migrants are distributed among the bloc’s 28 members states. But other European countries, notably the U.K., strongly oppose this plan.