Record number of refugees in Europe this year

Refugee and Migrant Crisis

Europe MigrantsSyrian refugees walk through a field near the border town of Idomeni in northern Greece to cross into Macedonia on Aug. 24, 2015. (AP Photo/Santi Palacios, File)

A record 522,134 refugees and migrants have landed in Europe by sea so far this year, the International Organization for Migration said on Tuesday.

This record is more than double last year’s record number of 219,000 and comes on the heels of the European Union’s approval of a plan to resettle 120,000 refugees across member states.

 

The 120,000 refugees, plus the 40,000 to be resettled in Greece and Italy, only accounts for a fraction of the growing flow of people pouring onto Europe’s shores from Syria, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iraq, and other war-torn and unstable countries. Nearly 3,000 have died crossing the treacherous sea routes of the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas. Of the half million who have successfully made the journey, just under 75 percent have landed in Greece, 25 percent from Italy. Meanwhile comparatively small numbers of migrants and refugees arrived in Malta and Spain (0.02 percent and 0.54 percent, respectively).


Syrian refugees celebrate Eid in camp

One of the holiest holidays for Muslims was recently celebrated worldwide. The Feast of Sacrifice, known as Eid Al-Adha, is a time to celebrate and bring the family together.

But for millions of refugees, especially due to the ongoing war in Syria. it was a completely different experience.

CCTV’s Michal Bardavid filed this report.