2015 European migrant crisis
The 2015 European migrant crisis was a period of significantly increased movement of refugees and migrants into Europe, mostly from the Middle East. An estimated 1.3 million people came to the continent to request asylum, the most in a single year since World War II. They were mostly Syrians, but also included a significant number of people from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Eritrea, and the Balkans. The increase in asylum seekers has been attributed to factors such as the escalation of various wars in the Middle East and ISIL's territorial and military dominance in the region due to the Arab Winter, as well as Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt ceasing to accept Syrian asylum seekers.
The EU attempted to enact some measures to address the problem, including distributing refugees among member countries, tackling root causes of emigration in the home countries of migrants, and simplifying deportation processes. However, due to a lack of political coordination at the European level, the distribution of countries was unequal, with some countries taking in many more refugees than others. This translated into a humanitarian emergency due to the poor quality of the infrastructure used to manage migration flows. This endangered the safety of migrants deepening the psychological and physical trauma.
The initial responses of national governments varied greatly. Many European Union governments reacted by closing their borders, and most countries refused to take in the arriving refugees. Germany ultimately accepted most of the refugees after the government decided to temporarily suspend its enforcement of the Dublin Regulation. Germany would receive over 440,000 asylum applications. Other countries that took in a significant number of refugees include Hungary, Sweden and Austria.
The crisis had significant political consequences in Europe. The influx of migrants caused significant demographic and cultural changes in these countries. As a consequence, some politicians raised concerns about the challenges of integrating migrants, and the public raised discussions about potential effects to European values. Paired also with rising cost of living and other complex social problems, political polarization increased, confidence in the European Union fell, and many countries implemented stricter asylum policies. Right-wing populist parties gained support as immigration became a key political issue and became significantly more popular in many countries. There was an increase in protests regarding immigration and the circulation of the white nationalist conspiracy theory of the Great Replacement.
Terminology
News organisations and academic sources use both migrant crisis and refugee crisis to refer to the 2015 events, sometimes interchangeably. Some argued that the word migrant was pejorative or inaccurate in the context of people fleeing war and persecution because it implies most are emigrating voluntarily rather than being forced to leave their homes. The BBC and The Washington Post argued against the stigmatization of the word, contending that it simply refers to anyone moving from one country to another. The Guardian said while it would not advise against using the word outright, "'refugees', 'displaced people' and 'asylum seekers'... are more useful and accurate terms than a catch-all label like 'migrants', and we should use them wherever possible." Al Jazeera, on the other hand, expressly avoided the term migrant, arguing it was inaccurate and risked "giving weight to those who want only to see economic migrants".Some have taken issue with the framing of the phenomenon as a "crisis." Political scientist Cas Mudde argued that the term reflects "more a matter of personal judgment than objective condition," writing that "he EU had the financial resources to deal with even these record numbers of asylum seekers, although for years it had neglected to build an infrastructure to properly take care of them."
Causes of increased asylum seekers
The most significant root cause of the wave of refugees entering Europe in 2015 was the Syrian civil war. Several other countries in the Middle East and northern Africa were also experiencing social unrest that drove people to flee.Background
In 2014, the EU member states counted around 252,000 irregular arrivals and 626,065 asylum applications, the highest number since the 672,000 applications received in the wake of the Yugoslav Wars in 1992. Four countries – Germany, Sweden, Italy and France – received around two-thirds of the EU's asylum applications. Sweden, Hungary and Austria were among the top recipients of EU asylum applications per capita, when adjusted for their own populations, with 8.4 asylum seekers per 1,000 inhabitants in Sweden, 4.3 in Hungary, and 3.2 in Austria. The EU countries that hosted the largest numbers of refugees at the end of 2014 were France, Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom.In 2014, the main countries of origin, accounting for almost half of the asylum seekers, were Syria, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Kosovo and Albania. Most crossed the Mediterranean Sea from Libya. The overall rate of recognition of asylum applicants was 45 per cent at the first instance and 18 per cent on appeal although there were huge differences between EU states, ranging from Hungary to Sweden.
Escaping from conflicts or persecution
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, most of the people who arrived in Europe in 2015 were refugees fleeing war and persecution in Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Eritrea: 84% of Mediterranean Sea arrivals in 2015 came from the world's top ten refugee-producing countries. Wars fueling the migrant crisis were the Syrian Civil War, the Iraq War, the War in Afghanistan, the War in Somalia, and the War in Darfur. Refugees from Eritrea, one of the most repressive states in the world, fled from indefinite military conscription and forced labour.The major regions of conflict that have resulted in the increase of asylum seekers in the European region are:
| Sort | Region of origin | 2015 | 2016 |
| Syrian | Western Asia | 29% | 28% |
| Other | 26% | 28% | |
| Afghanistan | Central Asia | 14% | 15% |
| Iraq | Western Asia | 10% | 11% |
| Albanian | Southeast Europe | 5% | 2% |
| Eritrea | East Africa | 3% | 3% |
| Iran | Western Asia | 2% | 3% |
| Kosovo | Southeast Europe | 5% | – |
| Nigeria | West Africa | 2% | 4% |
| Pakistan | South Asia | 4% | 4% |
Kosovo
occurred in phases beginning from the second half of the 20th century. The Kosovo War created a wave. On 19 May 2011, Kosovo established the Ministry of Diaspora. Kosovo also established the Kosovo Diaspora Agency to support migrants.The unemployment rate in Kosovo in 2014 was estimated at 30%, a majority of the unemployed being in the age range 15–24. This was reflected in the age range of the emigrants, roughly 50% of whom were youth between the age of 15–24. Detected illegal border crossings to the EU from Kosovo numbered 22,069 in 2014 and 23,793 in 2015. The anti-government protests of 2015 coincided with a surge in migrant numbers.
Syrian civil war
The Syrian civil war began in response to the Arab Spring protests of March 2011, which quickly escalated into a civil uprising. By May 2011, thousands of people had fled the country and the first refugee camps opened in Turkey. In March 2012, the UNHCR appointed a Regional Coordinator for Syrian Refugees, recognising the growing concerns surrounding the crisis. As the conflict descended into full civil war, outside powers, notably Iran, Turkey, the United States and Russia funded and armed different sides of the conflict and sometimes intervened directly. By March 2013, the total number of Syrian refugees reached 1,000,000, the vast majority of whom were internally displaced within Syria or had fled to Turkey or Lebanon; smaller numbers had sought refuge in Iraq and Egypt.War in Afghanistan
constitute the second-largest refugee population in the world. According to the UNHCR, there are almost 2.5 million registered refugees from Afghanistan. Most of these refugees fled the region due to war and persecution. The majority have resettled in Pakistan and Iran, though it became increasingly common to migrate further west to the European Union. Afghanistan faced over 40 years of conflict dating back to the Soviet invasion in 1979. Since then, the nation faced fluctuating levels of civil war amidst unending unrest. The increase in refugee numbers was primarily attributed to the Taliban presence within Afghanistan. Their retreat in 2001 led to nearly 6 million Afghan refugees returning to their homeland. However, after the Taliban insurgency against NATO-led forces and subsequent Fall of Kabul, nearly 2.5 million refugees fled Afghanistan.Boko Haram insurgency
The Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria has resulted in the deaths of 20,000 people and displaced at least 2 million since 2009. Around 75,000 Nigerians requested asylum in the EU in 2015 and 2016, around 3 per cent of the total.Means of entry into Europe
In all, over 1 million refugees and migrants crossed the Mediterranean in 2015, three to four times more than the previous year. 80% were fleeing from wars in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan. About 85% of sea arrivals were in Greece and 15% in Italy. The European Union's external land borders played only a minor role.Some also crossed via the Central Mediterranean Sea. This path is a much longer and considerably more dangerous journey than the relatively short trip across the Aegean. As a result, this route was responsible for a large majority of migrant deaths in 2015, even though it was far less used. An estimated 2,889 died in the Central Mediterranean; 731 died in the Aegean sea.
The EU Border and Coast Guard Agency uses the terms "illegal" and "irregular" border crossings for crossings of an EU external border but not at an official border-crossing point. These include people rescued at sea. Because many migrants cross more than one external EU border, the total number of irregular EU external border crossings is often higher than the number of irregular migrants arriving in the EU in a year. News media sometimes misrepresent these figures as given by Frontex.