Mediterranean crisis primarily centers on refugees: UNHCR

The large majority of the 137,000 people who crossed the Mediterranean Sea into Europe during the first six months of 2015 were fleeing from war, conflict or persecution, making the Mediterranean crisis primarily a refugee one, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said Monday in a report.

The report documented one third of the men, women and children who arrived by sea in Italy or Greece were from Syria. The second and third most common countries of origin are Afghanistan and Eritrea.

Based on data received from Greece, Italy, Malta and Spain, the numbers of refugees and migrants crossing the Mediterranean from January to June jumped 83 percent to 137,000, compared to 75,000 in the same period last year.

"As Europe debates the best way to deal with the rising crisis on the Mediterranean, we must be clear: most of the people arriving by sea in Europe are refugees, seeking protection from war and persecution," UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said in a statement.

The number of deaths at sea rose to record levels in April 2015, and then dropped dramatically in May and June. Between January and March, 479 refugees and migrants drowned or went missing, as opposed to 15 during the first three months of the year before.

The report showed that the eastern Mediterranean route from Turkey into Greece has now surpassed the central Mediterranean route (from north Africa to Italy) as the main source of maritime arrivals.

"Europe has a clear responsibility to help those seeking protection from war and persecution," said Guterres. "To deny that responsibility is to threaten the very building blocks of the humanitarian system Europe worked so hard to build. European countries must shoulder their fair share in responding to the refugee crisis, at home and abroad." Endit