IOM: Over 1 million refugees, migrants enter Europe in 2015

Printed from: https://newbostonpost.com/2015/12/22/iom-over-1-million-refugees-migrants-enter-europe-in-2015/

GENEVA (AP) — More than 1 million refugees and “irregular migrants” have entered Europe in this record-breaking year, the International Organization for Migration said Tuesday, a symbolic milestone driven by war, poverty and persecution in the Middle East and Africa.

With just days left in 2015, the Geneva-based intergovernmental organization said 1,005,504 people had entered Europe as of Monday, more than four times as many as last year. Almost all came by sea, while 3,692 others drowned trying to make the crossing.

IOM director-general William Lacy Swing urged European governments to make migration safer.

“We know migration is inevitable. It’s necessary and it’s desirable,” he said, adding: “Migration must be legal, safe and secure for all — both for the migrants themselves and the countries that will become their new home.”