migration and the refugee crisis - background context

MIGRATION AND THE

REFUGEE CRISIS

BACKGROUND CONTEXT

Picture credit: Picture credit: Jonathan Hyams/Save the Children

MIGRATION AND THE REFUGEE CRISISBackground context

1. Most of the migrants are from Syria, where conflict between the government and different groups has resulted in violence. A civil war has been going on since 2011.

Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad has dropped dynamite and poisonous gas on towns that oppose him. Some of the groups fighting the president are just as bad at harming other people; one of them, Islamic State, sometimes commits very violent acts.

Picture credit: Tammam Azzam


2. Both the Syrian government and Islamic State commit violence against people because they disagree about politics or religion, or belong to a different ethnic group.

The civil war has forced millions of Syrians out of their homes.

Picture credit: Tammam Azzam


3. If you are a refugee, fleeing because your home country is too dangerous for you, other countries are supposed to let you in. If you are seeking more money or a better life then other countries can send you back.

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4. Countries close to Syria such as Turkey and Lebanon are often the first countries that Syrian refugees travel through.

Picture credit: Guilhem Alandry


5. 1.14 million refugees and asylum seekers live in camps in Lebanon. By the end of this year the number of asylum seekers and refugees in Turkey could be 1.7million.

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6. Many Syrians have already spent years in refugee camps in countries bordering Syria. They are coming to Europe because those camps do not have enough food or good schools, and you cannot get a job there.

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7. Most of the world’s governments, including Britain and all the European countries, promised to allow refugees to stay in their countries.

They signed a treaty, which is a kind of written promise, called the 1951 Refugee Convention. Governments that have signed the Refugee Convention must take in refugees because they made this promise.

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8. Asylum seekers are supposed to ask for asylum in the first European country they land in. This is often Italy or Greece.

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9. Migrants arrive in Greece on small rubber motorboats from Turkey, just a few miles from the Greek islands. To get to Italy they take larger boats across the Mediterranean Sea from Africa. It is very dangerous. When the sea is rough, sometimes the boats sink. Many people have drowned making this journey.



10. Most refugees coming to Europe do not want to stay in Italy or Greece, where the economy is bad and jobs are hard to find.

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11. Refugees and economic migrants want to get to countries like Germany and Sweden because the economy is good and the governments there let them work for a living.

Picture credit: Jonathan Hyams/Save the Children


12. Germany and Sweden are members of the European Union, a kind of club for countries which is also known as the EU for short.

Countries that are members of the EU agreed to have open borders with each other. This means it is easy to travel from one EU country to another.

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13. Migrants have been moving up from Greece and Italy towards Germany, using ferries, trains, buses or simply walking. Some of them walk hundreds of miles with small children.



14. Some countries in central and Eastern Europe, where there are few Muslims, do not want to accept any Muslim refugees.

These countries have either tried to build fences on their borders or simply pushed the refugees quickly along towards other countries.



15. Germany has agreed to accept all the refugees who arrive, while sending economic migrants back. They expect between 800,000 and 1.5 million refugees will arrive in their country this year, and another million next year.

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16. Britain has agreed to accept 20,000 refugees but they will not accept refugees that have already arrived in Europe.

Instead, Britain will only offer asylum to Syrian refugees currently living in refugee camps in countries outside the EU, such as Turkey and Lebanon.



17. Many people think it is right to help the refugees but some are afraid. When migrants travel to a new country they bring different values, different religions and different laws too. These differences can cause conflict.



18. In many Middle Eastern countries men and women are not equal, religions other than Islam are not accepted and gay people are treated unfairly. Many people are concerned that, because of this, refugees will not fit in and conflict will happen.



19. Some Europeans are angry that their governments spend money on migrants. Refugees will cost Germany about 10 billion euros (7.5 billion pounds) next year. But others say that the refugees will make Germany richer in the long run, once they get jobs and start working and spending money.

Germany wants the rest of the countries in the European Union to help by taking in some of the migrants.

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20. The European Union has made a rule that 160,000 migrants must be spread among different European Union countries.

Picture credit: Picture credit: Jonathan Hyams/Save the Children


21. Britain is a member of the European Union, but it has a special deal that lets it out of anything to do with migration, so it does not have to accept any of the refugees if it doesn’t want to.

Picture credit: Louis Leeson/Save the Children

migration and the refugee crisis - background context

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