ICC Note: Staggering numbers of refugees have died in 2015 trying to reach Europe for greener pastures. Among the colossal flow, Eritreans make up the largest per capita proportion. Many Eritreans would rather risk capture in the Libyan desert by ISIS, abuse and mistreatment in Libya’s cities, drowning in the Mediterranean Sea, or rejection by European countries, than to face oppression and persecution from one of the most abusive governments in the world. The tiny paranoid state in East Africa imprisons enemies of the state in metal shipping containers in the desert, among other documented tortures, often subjecting Christians to the worst kinds of suffering.
By Sewell Chan
12/27/15 Africa (NYT) – The number of migrants and refugees who have entered Europe by sea and land this year has passed the one million mark, a long-expected but symbolically significant capstone to a year in which displaced people flocked to the Continent.
The huge influx — the largest movement of people on the Continent since World War II — has strained the resources of Germany, which has been the ultimate destination for most of the migrants; prompted a right-wing backlash there and in much of Europe; and exposed the European Union’s inability to coordinate an effective response.
The Main Points of Entry
As of Monday, 1,005,504 people had reached Europe, more than four times the number in 2014, the International Organization for Migration announced on Tuesday.
Greece was by far the most popular point of entry, with more than 820,000 migrants arriving there.
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