EUROPEAN REFUGEE CRISIS

WHAT IS THE CRISIS

• The crisis is not just restricted to Syria it spreads over a wide variety of different countries
• The crisis began about four years ago as minor peaceful protests in Syria
• The crisis itself is the fleeing of people's home countries in seek of refuge

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN IMMIGRANT AND REFUGEE?

• An immigrant or migrant is a person who comes to a country generally for better work, education, etc.
• A refugee, according to the Geneva convention, is a person forced to leave their country because they can not find sanctuary, due to persecution, violence, natural disasters,etc.

THE REASONS

• A four year long civil war broke out about four year ago in Syria, ravaging the country
• Many other countries have also been in a state of civil unrest, resulting in large amounts of refugees as well
• Due to civil unrest and atrocities being committed in those countries, it led to an unusually large influx of immigrants to flood Europe

THE REFUGEE CRISIS IN 2014

• In 2014 about 283,000 people entered the E.U. via Eastern Mediterranean routes and Western Balkans Routes
• A majority of those people were from Turkey, who feared groups like ISIS may come there.
• A large majority of those refugees, who applied for asylum would proceed to go to more welcoming countries, such as Germany or Sweden.
• According to Eurostat, there were 623,000 applications for asylum that year.

REFUGEE CRISIS 2015

• The crisis really caught news when a three year old child was found dead on the shores of Turkey.
• Many countries, specifically in Southern and Eastern Europe have cracked down on border control
• Members of the E.U. have met to discuss the issue and plan to accept roughly 120,000 refugees

AFFECTS ON SYRIA

• The crisis itself has ravaged Syria. The civil war and about a third of its people leaving have been terribe
• The Syrian economy has also been greatly damaged, which is causing a neighboring countries to suffer as well