250,000 migrants have entered Europe in 2015: IOM
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) says nearly 250,000 migrants have crossed the Mediterranean Sea into Europe so far this year.
The Geneva-based organization said in a statement on Friday that the number of arrivals so far this year has already exceeded the total figure for the entire 2014, which was 219,000.
The IOM said that Greece has announced 134,988 arrivals, Italy reported 93,540, and Spain and Malta together recorded 237,000 newcomers in 2015.
According to an IOM analysis, rescues at sea are occurring at a rate of over 1,000 migrants a day off the coasts of Italy and Greece.
More incoming
The IOM predicted that the total number of migrants and asylum seekers reaching Europe across the Mediterranean would pass the mark of a quarter of a million by the end of August.
The IOM estimated that at least 2,300 people have died this year alone trying to make the perilous sea crossing into Europe.
Earlier, IOM Director General William Lacy Swing criticized European leaders for not taking diligent measures to receive and provide adequate care for the migrants.
“It is unacceptable that in the 21st century people fleeing from conflict, persecutions, misery and land degradation must endure such terrible experiences in their home countries, not to mention en route, and then die on Europe’s doorstep,” said Swing.
Most of the migrants who risk their lives trying to reach Europe are fleeing from hardships inflicted on them and their families in conflicts in the Middle East and Africa.
Czech President Milos Zeman said recently in an interview with the Czech daily Blesk that the Western military intervention in the Middle East and North Africa had caused the huge influx of migrants into Europe.
“The current wave of migration is rooted in the crazy idea to launch an intervention in Iraq, which allegedly had weapons of mass destruction, but nothing was found,” said the Czech leader.
Zeman added that the US excuse to “restore order” in Libya and Syria only resulted in the escalation of violence in both countries plus the strengthening of terrorist organizations, which forced people to flee from the conflict areas.
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