Migrant arrivals into Europe tops one million in 2015

More than one million refugees and migrants entered Europe in 2015, and as wars and instability look set to carry on for some time, more will seek better lives in the coming year. The real number of people entering Europe may be even larger, since migrants and refugees who came across other borders were not counted.

According to latest data from the International Organization for Migration, 800,000 refugees reached Europe via the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece, accounting for 80 percent of the refugees arriving irregularly in Europe by sea in 2015.

One in every two of those crossing the Mediterranean this year – half a million people – were Syrians escaping the grinding, four-year civil war in their homeland.

Afghans made up 20 percent of the group, while seven percent of arrivals were Iraqis.

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Many fleeing war and persecution are likely to be granted refugee status.

The UNHCR said, the record movement of people into Europe was a symptom of a record level of disruption around the globe, with numbers of refugees and internally displaced people far surpassing 60 million. A report said there was little evidence of progress since Turkey signed an “action plan” with the EU.

Some migrants say they do not feel welcome in Germany, where reception centers are overcrowded and authorities have been slow to process administrative details.

Some 3,700 people are deceived to have died on their journey to Europe in 2015, with more than one million migrants and refugees entering the EU. “Migration must be legal, safe and secure for all – both for the migrants themselves and the countries that will become their new home”, said Swing.

Many have been making their way through Balkan nations such as Macedonia and Serbia, trying to settle in more prosperous, Western European countries.

The surge in refugees has also had political repercussions across Europe, with many voters in Britain, Spain, Greece, and Germany moving further to the political right or left and beginning to pull populist parties into the mainstream.

“If we are creative in using our visa policies to give temporary protective status to everyone so there is a measure of support there… then I think it is a manageable proposition”, he said.

But he notes the mass migration into Europe is primarily a refugee situation, which reflects the sad state of the world.