by David Kavanagh

WARNING: this article contains images some may find disturbing

With the big news stories in recent weeks focusing on the debilitating sit-ins at a Budapest train station, the discovery of the bodies of 71 migrants in the back of a truck in Austria, and the heartbreaking images of a three-year-old Syrian boy found dead on a resort beach in Turkey, the world has once again been forced to confront harsh realities about the international refugee situation.

By the end of July of this year, approximately 438,000 refugees had applied for asylum in a variety of European Union (EU) countries, a stone throw from the 571,000 applications that had been filed in the entirety of 2014. Of course, far fewer have had their claims approved.

Just yesterday, Antonio Guterres, the High Commissioner of the UN refugee agency called on EU nations to accept up to 200,000 refugees between themselves as part of a “common strategy, based on responsibility, solidarity and trust” against what many are describing as the worst migrant crisis since WW2.

He said:

More than 300,000 people have risked their lives to cross the Mediterranean Sea so far this year. Over 2,600 didn’t survive the dangerous crossing, including three-year-old Aylan, whose photo has just stirred the hearts of the world public. After arriving on Europe’s shores and borders, they continue their journey – facing chaos and suffering indignity, exploitation and danger at borders and along the way… Europe cannot go on responding to this crisis with a piecemeal or incremental approach. No country can do it alone, and no country can refuse to do its part. It is no surprise that, when a system is unbalanced and dysfunctional, everything gets blocked when the pressure mounts. This is a defining moment for the European Union, and it now has no other choice but to mobilize full force around this crisis.

In the wake of this, and before EU leaders share their responses and plans in coming meetings, here is a brief overview of the whole situation.

Where are the refugees coming from?

Syria, above all other countries in the region, remains the primary source of refugees fleeing into Europe.

While a majority of those who have fled the war-torn nation are currently residing in underfunded refugee camps in neighboring Jordan and Lebanon, both of which are evidently under excessive strain because of it, many are still streaming onwards into the West.

This is of no surprise. Since the civil war between the forces of authoritarian President Bashar Al-Assad, oppositional rebel factions like the Free Syrian Army, and more extremist groups like the Islamic State broke out in 2012, about 250,000 people have been killed, half of the country’s 23 million have been displaced, and 4 million of those have fled as refugees.

Many others are fleeing from places like Afghanistan, where a new period of political instability, police corruption and a returning pressure from Taliban insurgents has seen growing violence and a decrease in respect for human rights, women’s rights, and freedom of expression.

Kosovo, Eritrea, Serbia, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, Nigeria, and even Russia extend the list, each struggling under the weight of repressive state apparatus’, poverty, increased extremist violence, forms of sectarian violence and persecution or other horrible conditions.

Where are they going?

When it comes to asylum applications specifically, Germany remains the most popular destination. By the end of July 2015 alone, 188,000 migrants applied for refuge – that’s 15,000 more than in all of the year before.

On Monday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced that she hoped Germany would accept up to, if not more than, 800000 refugees by the end of the year and urged other European nations to increase their own commitment.

Hungary, where the widely broadcasted Budapest train station protests occurred, moves into second place behind Germany, followed by Turkey, Sweden, Italy, France and Austria.

The UK and Greece come in last and generally hear far fewer applications than their EU allies, although David Cameron has recently announced plans to increase their intake by thousands.

Unfortunately, the influx of foreign migrants has resulted in some anti-migrants attacks on refugees and refugee centres by right wing and neo-Nazi groups. This issue is particularly pervasive in both Germany and the UK, where immigration has been a hotly divisive issue for years.

How are they getting there?

Many efforts have been made by EU countries to prevent migrants from crossing into Europe illegally.

As the numbers of desperate refugees seeking asylum increase, however, the established rules and preventative parameters are more and more ignored or circumvented.

The EU’s Dublin regulation, for example, which requires that refugees fill asylum applications in whichever country they first arrive and are registered in, no longer seems as effective in discouraging migrants from passing onwards into greater Europe.

This graph, produced by Frontex, the EU’s external border force tasked with monitoring the different routes used by migrants to get into Europe, highlights the primary routes migrants take.

Evidently, in 2015, the Eastern Mediterranean route has become increasingly popular, namely due to its direct access to the Syrian border.

More perilous is the Central Mediterranean route from Libya to Italy on which over 2500 migrants have reportedly perished at sea according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

In April, 800 migrants were confirmed dead in a single boating disaster.

Sadly, for many, the journey towards safe haven is itself as fraught with danger as the situation at home.

Where to now?

A piece by BBC correspondent Laurence Peters highlights five ways in which the EU could potentially mitigate the issue:

By agreeing on asylum rules By establishing national asylum quotas By tackling migration and the hardship that causes it at its source By establishing legal migration paths that make dangerous Mediterranean crossings obsolete By actually putting more effort on deporting failed asylum seekers

All that said, as the UNHCR High Commissioner succinctly explained, whatever the answer, Europe’s current migrant crisis will require strong and committed joint action from all of the EU’s governments.

This also requires that the these nations’ populaces keep the situation on the international agenda.

For the BBC’s continued live coverage of the situation, click here.

For a gallery of 10 moving images of the crisis, click here.

Editorial aside: Why I included the photo of Alan Kurdi

Graphic photographs are ideally never included within news stories without considered thought.

Although commercial organisations may deem shock value and the consequent traffic it generates as enough to justify their use, I believe they should only be included if they provide an important aspect or angle to a story.

This photograph of a boy who had died fleeing from Kobane in Syria – tragic and uncomfortable as it is – sheds a light on a harsh truth. This is real. This is what is actually happening out there right now to living, tangible human beings. It’s not something that should be ignored.

Side note: Vice was able to interview the photographer, Nilüfer Demir, here.

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