Why people don’t need to DROWN IN THE AEGEAN. A policy proposal
Why people don’t need to DROWN IN THE AEGEAN. A policy proposal

Author(s): Author Not Specified
Subject(s): Migration Studies, Asylum, Refugees, Migration as Policy-fields
Published by: ESI – European Stability Initiative
Keywords: refugees in the Aegan;
Summary/Abstract: The situation on the European Union’s external borders in the Eastern Mediterranean is out of control. In the first eight months of 2015, an estimated 433,000 migrants and refugees have reached the EU by sea, most of them – 310,000 – via Greece. The island of Lesbos alone, lying a scant 15 kilometres off the Turkish coast and with population of 86,000, received 114,000 people between January and August. And the numbers keep rising. The vast majority of people arriving in Greece during this period were Syrians (175,000). They are all likely to be given refugee status in the EU if they reach it; in 2014, the recognition rate of Syrian asylum applications was above 95 percent. But to claim asylum in the EU, they need to undertake a perilous journey by land and sea. || In the face of this massive movement of people – the largest in Europe since the end of the Second World War – there have been two diametrically opposed responses.

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