Fleeing conflicts, record numbers of migrants and refugees crossed Mediterranean so far in 2015 – UN

1 July 2015 – War, conflict or persecution forced most of the 137,000 desperate people who made the perilous journey to cross the Mediterranean Sea into Europe during the first six months of 2015, making this primarily a refugee crisis, a new report from the United Nations refugee agency said today.

The opening lines of the The sea route to Europe: The Mediterranean passage in the age of refugees, compiled by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, put the challenges facing Europe, the wider international community and humanitarian actors in stark relief.

“Europe is living through a maritime refugee crisis of historic proportions. Its evolving response has become one of the continent's defining challenges of the early 21st century, with long-lasting implications for humanitarian practice, regional stability and international public opinion,” it says, also revealing that the first half of the year saw an increase of 83 per cent of such crossings compared to the same period last year.

“As Europe debates the best way to deal with the rising crisis on the Mediterranean, we must be clear: most of the people arriving by sea in Europe are refugees, seeking protection from war and persecution,” said UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres in apress release on the launch of the report.

One third of the men, women and children who arrived by sea in Italy or Greece were from Syria, whose nationals are almost universally deemed to qualify for refugee status or other forms of protection, the report explains. The second and third most common countries of origin are Afghanistan and Eritrea, whose nationals are also mostly considered to qualify for refugee status. - Read More at Fleeing conflicts
Fleeing conflicts, record numbers of migrants and refugees crossed Mediterranean so far in 2015 – UN

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