WHICHEVER side of the fence you are on, there is currently a migrant crisis that is polarising the EU.
We are seeing the largest, international migration of people due to war and conflict since World War II.
What are the facts?
As the number of refugees, asylum-seekers, and internally displaced persons (IDPs) worldwide continued to grow in 2015 and 2016, it is likely that this figure has far surpassed 60million.
However, most may be surprised by the hosting countries.
According to the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), by mid-2015, half of the top 10 refugee-hosting countries were located in sub-Saharan Africa, with four of them being least developed countries.
With 1.84million refugees in its territory, Turkey remained the country hosting the largest number of refugees at mid-2015.
This is a significant turnaround, as until 2012, Turkey did not feature among even the top 20 refugee-hosting countries.
At the end of 2015, Syrians accounted for 98 per cent of all registered refugees in the country.
Pakistan hosted the second-largest number of refugees worldwide with 1.5 million individuals, virtually all of them from Afghanistan.
Lebanon remained the third-largest refugee-hosting country, with 1.2million refugees under UNHCR’s mandate.
As in Turkey, the overwhelming majority (99%) of refugees in Lebanon originated from the Syrian Arab Republic.
We expect migration into Europe to increase in 2016 as the critical mass of refugees in Turkey grows.
Whilst many are genuine refugees fleeing unliveable conditions, it is a known fact that key terrorist organisations are using the influx of populations to move their agents into western countries.
Without proper identification, it is reasonably simple for terrorist agents to cross borders hidden amongst genuine refugees.
This increases the security risk for all of us and places Europe in a difficult situation – do we turn our backs on those genuinely in need to protect our borders and our citizens?
This year will be one of the most important in Europe’s history and will determine the future of the EU.
Reference links
For those of you interested in analysing some of the migration data, there are two brilliant interactive graphics available on the internet.
For all data up to 2012 – http://www.therefugeeproject.org/
For up to date data – 2012 to 2015 http://www.lucify.com/the-flow-towards-europe/