Esther Yu-Hsi Lee :
As 2015 draws to a close, world leaders are engaged in bitter debates about how to handle an influx of refugees from war-torn nations. A migrant crisis that has been escalating for some time finally reached a fever pitch this year.
There has been a sharp increase in first-time asylum seekers entering the European Union, as refugees fleeing from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and other North African countries undertook the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean Sea and Aegean Sea. Thousands died along the way. And at certain points over the past year, the rest of the world was forced to pay attention. By the numbers, here is a look at the major issues that transformed 2015 into the year of the refugee:
1 million: The number of refugees entering the European Union through the Mediterranean Sea.
In terms of sheer volume, the surge in the number of refugees showing up in Europe in 2015 was more than four times the number that showed up in 2014. By November, about 760,000 people already crossed the Mediterranean Sea, mostly into Greece and Italy.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has provided aid to 40 sites in Greece, though it is still looking to fund an additional $96.1 million “to support Croatia, Greece, Serbia, Slovenia and Macedonia, bringing the total amount that it is trying to raise for Europe’s biggest refugee crisis since World War Two to $172.7 million,” Reuters reported. The funds will be used to winterproof shelter and facilities and to supply family tents. 2,500: The average daily number of refugees passing through the Greek island of Lesbos.
Among the asylum seekers crossing the Aegean Sea to pass through the Greek islands, about 59 percent, or 466,856 people, arrived in the Greek island of Lesbos in 2015. The island is about five miles from the Turkish coast where refugees and migrants arrive after hours on rubber dinghies.
The surge to Lesbos mostly began in August, with 135,021 people landing there in October – “more than 10 times the total from all of last year,” according to the Washington Post.
3,671: The number of people who died trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea.
The trip to Europe is a deadly one. As of mid-December, the total known number of fatalities or those who went missing on the Mediterranean Sea stood at 3,671, though it’s possible that there are many more unknown deaths. That number includes 2,889 leaving North Africa for Italy; 684 going from Turkey to Greece; and 94 leaving West Africa. In comparison, 3,343 died in the Mediterranean Sea in 2014.
As of September 2015, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that 227 people have died on the Aegean Sea since the beginning of the year, nearly three times as many as the number of people who went missing or died in the previous year. 800: The number of people who died on one capsized boat.
This year saw upwards of 800 people drown in a single migrant boat that capsized off the coast of Libya in April, the majority of whom were locked in the hull and middle deck. Many were Syrians, Eritreans, and Somalians. In a similar incident, another 200 people drowned off the coast of Libya in August when their fishing boat capsized. And in a gruesome discovery, as many as 71 dead refugees were found in an abandoned truck in Austria in August.
The world arguably could no longer turn a blind eye to the refugee crisis in September, when Aylan Kurdi, a 3-year-old Syrian refugee, washed up onshore as he and his family made their way across the Aegean Sea. The photo of Aylan’s body had an immediate effect on the way that media outlets covered the refugee crisis. The effect was short lived. According to research conducted by the European Journalism Observatory network, western European newspapers were “significantly more sympathetic towards migrants and refugees” immediately after Aylan’s drowning, but reverted to their normal coverage by the end of the month. And here in the United States, although there was a sharp increase in web results related to “refugee” around September – roughly corresponding to the time that Aylan’s photo was aggressively posted on social media – the searches experienced a sharp drop-off the following month.
There have since been many more deaths similar to Aylan’s. About 70 children drowned in October while attempting to get to Greece. 31: The number of U.S. governors who refused to resettle Syrian refugees.
After the terror attack in Paris, France about 31 (primarily Republican) state governors stated their opposition to letting Syrian refugees into their states. Following the states’ opposition, the Republican-led House passed a bill blocking the admission of Syrian and Iraqi refugees unless they are thoroughly vetted. Syrian refugees already undergo a very stringent vetting process, which extracts information taken from agencies like Interpol and the Treasury Department. Incoming refugees from so-called “high-risk” countries – including Muslim-majority countries – are vetted through the government program known as Controlled Application Review and Resolution Process, or CARRP, according to Buzzfeed News. As it stands, Syrian refugees face a long security screening process that takes between 18 months and 24 months, specially designed to mitigate national security threats.
163: The number of refugees Canadian leaders welcomed at the airport this month. Last week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was on hand at the Toronto airport terminal to greet hundreds of Syrian refugee families who are resettling in his country. It represented the first large group of Syrian refugees traveling to Canada by government aircraft. Canada has committed to resettle 25,000 refugees from the Middle East by 2016. “Tonight they step off the plane as refugees, but they walk out of this terminal as permanent residents of Canada,” Trudeau told government employees gathered at the airport. “How you will receive these people tonight will be something they will remember for the rest of their lives, but also I know something that you will remember for the rest of your lives.”
Trudeau’s welcome has even extended to Canadian children, who sent heartwarming messages to the refugees making a home in their country. Through a project with World Vision Canada, a community development non-profit, children sent refugee kids messages like, “I hope you might live near us” and “I want to be your best friend.”
53: The percentage of Americans who don’t want to accept any Syrian refugees at all. A November 2015 Bloomberg Politics poll – surveyed in the days after the terror attack in Paris, France – found that the majority of Americans oppose Syrian refugee resettlement. The same poll found that about 11 percent said that they would favor an exclusionary program proposal to accept only Syrian Christians, but not Muslims.
But Americans also have a long history of opposing all kinds of refugees, including those from European countries. According to the Pew Research’s Fact Tank, the vast majority of Americans opposed German, Austrian, and other political refugees before and after World War II. 10,000: The number of refugees that the United States will accept in the 2016 fiscal year.
President Barack Obama committed in September to take in at least 10,000 more Syrian refugees in the next fiscal year (although that number falls short of the minimum of 65,000 that the United Nations has recommended the U.S. to accept).
1 million: The number of asylum applications that Germany expects to receive. Germany is on track to accepting one million asylum applications in 2015. That’s because Chancellor Angela Merkel announced in August that Syrians could apply for asylum in her country and that they wouldn’t be sent back to their countries. Germany is thus far the largest recipient of asylum applications, followed by France, Sweden, Italy, and the United Kingdom, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Time Magazine named Merkel as its “Person of the Year,” in part because of her decision to open Germany’s doors to refugees. But Germany’s generosity may soon be wearing thin. On Sunday, Merkel said that she wanted to “drastically reduce” the number of refugees in the country. She resisted putting in place a quota system, but she is looking to other countries to take in asylum seekers as well.
(Esther Yu-Hsi Lee is the Immigration Reporter for ThinkProgress. She received her B.A. in Psychology and Middle East and Islamic Studies and a M.A. in Psychology from New York University. A Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) beneficiary, Esther is passionate about immigration issues from all sides of the debate. She is also a White House Champion of Change recipient. Esther is originally from Los Angeles, CA).
