The world’s migrant and refugee crisis

ACCORDING to the United Nations refugee Agency, the number of people who have been driven from their homes by conflict and crises has topped 50 million for the first time since World War II. In the first half of this year, 135,000 migrants and refugees reached Europe by sea, an increase of more than 80% from the same period in 2014. Three thousand people from Africa, the Middle East, and Asia are camping out in Calais, France, the last European stop before the under-Channel Euro Tunnel that connects with Britain. They try to hide on trucks that are crossing the Tunnel, and are often injured or even lose their lives in the attempt. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the migrants and refugees were a bigger challenge for the European Union than the Greek debt crisis.

Last June, the European Commission proposed a system of quotas to distribute migrants among the European Union’s 28 member states. EU regulations stipulate that it is the responsibility of the country where migrants arrive to accommodate them and process requests for asylum. But several EU countries rejected this proposal, although Germany, took 203,000 asylum seekers in 2014 – the most of any European country.

90,000 migrants have entered Europe already this year from Libya, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. The European Union members are divided about how to resettle these migrants, although the United Nations Representative on Migration insists that migrants are vital for European economies, and Germany is willing to accept skilled migrants.

In Australia, Prime Minister Tony Abbott closed the door on boat people, shunting them off to Cambodia and Papua New Guinea. In the US 1,000 Syrian refugees were accepted, out of the four million who had fled the country since 2011.

Worldwide it is estimated that 60 million people have been displaced by conflicts. Some, like the Palestinians, have lived as refugees for generations. Some, like the Syrians and Ukrainians, are fleeing from conflict. Some, like the Rohinga of Myanmar, flee from persecution.

The flow of migrants and refugees has become a serious problem, for both the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the countries where they have taken refuge. 85% are living in developing countries which are unable to support them.

Recently France, Italy and Germany agreed to help the High Commissioner for Refugees re-locate the migrants.