ref-u-gee A person who has been forced to leave his/her country in order to escape war, persecution or natural disaster.
More than a million migrants and refugees crossed into Europe in 2015, fleeing war and persecution in countries such as Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Eritrea. This sparked a crisis as countries struggled to cope with the influx which created division in the EU over how best to deal with resettling people.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that more than 1,011,700 migrants arrived by sea in 2015, and almost 34,900 by land.
The number of people uprooted from their homes by war and persecution in 2014 was larger than in any year since detailed record-keeping began, according to a comprehensive report released early Thursday, June 15th by the U.N. refugee agency that will add to the evidence of a global exodus unlike any in modern times.
The European Union wants to stop smugglers near the African coast. European governments are divided over the fates of those who reach shore.
25,000 refugees boarded smugglers' boat in the first quarter of 2016
Thousands of Bangladeshis and Rohingya, an ethnic minority from Myanmar, have fled from poverty and persecution.
According to the IOM, more than 3,770 migrants were reported to have died trying to cross the Mediterranean in 2015.
