Written by Rebecca Oldham. Media by Andrea Martin. [divide]
In the past few months, migrants have been fleeing from the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria, and have sought to enter Europe. This migrant crisis has become one of the largest since World Ward II, and many of the countries within Europe are unsure of how to deal with the growing migrant population. The population influx has overflown into countries such as Hungary, where they have had to tighten their security when it comes to border control.
According to CNN’s reporters Lucy Pawle and Susannah Cullinane, the largest portions of migrants are those fleeing from the Syrian civil war. At least 613,000 migrants have passed over into Europe by boat. Many of them are smuggled and have never traveled by water before. Over 3,100 migrants have drowned or disappeared during their rough trip aboard the boats. Greece has taken in almost 472,000 people whereas Italy has taken around 137,000 migrants. Most are traveling by foot and are find rides as they go. Lots of these migrants have traveled as far as Germany and beyond. Germany is expecting around 1 million asylum applications, but has already had to backlog 260,000 cases.
Once some have landed in Greece or Italy, they’ll try to make it to Germany or Sweden. Many have no knowledge of what awaits them, no way to travel other than walking, and face other harsh realities. Some have brought all that they own, and to an onlooker, it doesn’t look like much. In addition to that, they have no money to buy resources they’ve already run out of and rely upon the simplicity of pitch tents or other means of shelter. It is also surprising at how many teenagers and kids are traveling alone, because they were separated from their families while escaping. Even before then, some families gave up their children as they saw no other option available.
As Border Control continues to tighten blockades in Europe, the migrants are unwavering as they seek other options for refuge. According to CNN reporters Richard Morris and Melissa Gray, Hungary has shut its borders off to Croatia so that the only legal crossing would be restricted to official border crossings. Last month the border crossings were becoming so out of control that Hungarian riot police had to fire tear gas and water cannons into the crowd of migrants in order to push them back from the boarder. Razor wire fencing was then installed to halt another possible rush from the migrants, and threats of incarceration were relayed to them as well.
Europe is producing solutions on how to handle the migrant crisis as it struggles to make room for the thousands who are seeking help and refuge. The problem continues to grow, though, as conflict in the migrants’ native countries push them away from animosity and possible death.
