First, the situation as it is now.<\/p>\n
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This image, taken from Wikipedia, illustrates the main routes of asylum seeking migrants into Europe in the period to December of last year. As you can see there are\u00a0people seeking to enter Europe from a number of sources. These, in simple terms, are centered around the Syrian Civil War, migrants from Afghanistan\u00a0and those from Northern Africa.<\/p>\n
In each of these three situations there are\u00a0people wanting to move because of the negative impact of warfare on their homelands. In many cases, though not all, these\u00a0people can seek to claim asylum \u2013 or safety \u2013 in other countries.<\/p>\n
Different countries and\u00a0politicians have very different views about who is and isn\u2019t a legitimate asylum seeker; how best to cater for the needs of asylum seekers and how to manage any financial implications relating to the acceptance of asylum seekers. Those matters are\u00a0politically interesting but are not the focus of this\u00a0post.<\/p>\n
Why is there a Migration Crisis?<\/strong><\/p>\n In March,\u00a02011, the movement known as the Arab Spring reached Syria. This was a series of protests across the Arab World by\u00a0people wanting to change the way in which their countries were being ruled.<\/p>\n In Syria the ruler was \u2013 and remains \u2013\u00a0President Bashar al-Assad<\/a>. his government has been known for it\u2019s firm style of rule, with a State of Emergency having been in\u00a0place since the rule of al-Assad\u2019s father. When the Arab Spring arrived in Syria it was initially in the form of\u00a0protests over the lack of democracy. The\u00a0protests were dealt with through use of force. Rather than quashing any rebellion, this acted as a\u00a0prompt to the governments opponents who escalated the\u00a0protests into other\u00a0parts of Syria, including the Capital, Damascus, and the largest city, Aleppo.<\/p>\n With the\u00a0protest growing in size, matters became more complex. Thousands of troops deserted the army and chose to side with the rebels. The Assad regime was also faced by ethnic and\u00a0political factions who saw an opportunity to change the balance of\u00a0power in the country.<\/p>\n The Assad government faced heavy criticism from the United Nations and some major\u00a0powers. However, the international community was \u2013 and remains \u2013 divided on how to approach the Assad regime, which is supported by Russia.<\/p>\n The use of force against rebels led in turn to those rebels using force themselves.They have armed themselves and fought back. Into this conflict then came separatist groups, wanting to have their own enclaves, and most worryingly to the International community, organisations such as Al-Qaeda and ISIS.<\/p>\n Consequently a\u00a0protest about democratic rights has escalated into a highly complicated and bloody Civil War. It involves several coalitions who are loosely bound only by a joint enemy; foreign involvement through funding and the use of air strikes and bloody fighting between forces loyal to the government and the rebel groups.<\/p>\n The Civil War has become radicalised, complex and fractious. The map below illustrates one snapshot of the different groups involved in the Syrian Civil War, their relative locations and the complicated nature of the division of the country on military lines in this conflict:<\/p>\n The consequences of a war on this scale, over a period of five years is that there is a massive Humanitarian Crisis within Syria. The United Nations organisation, UNHCR, estimates that\u00a06.9 million people have been displaced. All of these\u00a0people need to be found adequate shelter, food, medical supplies etc. However, it is not as simple as moving them into refugee camps either in Syria or across the border into neighbouring states.<\/p>\n The fractious nature of the war zone means that in many cases it is not safe for displaced\u00a0people to seek refuge in neighbouring areas. They would suffer even more hardship and be in greater risk. So, they are forced to look elsewhere for refuge. The\u00a0problem is, there aren\u2019t many\u00a0places that they can go to safely.<\/p>\n Iraq is also suffering from issues with insurgency and civil unrest. There are extremist groups there and an influx of refugees from Afghanistan, to the east of this map, also adds to the\u00a0problem.<\/p>\n Lebanon is a small country that has it\u2019s own economic and political problems. Nonetheless, many Syrian migrants have entered Lebanon in search of refuge. Some estimates suggest that over a quarter of the\u00a0population of Lebanon is now made up of Syrian refugees.<\/p>\n This map is quite old. Where it shows Palestine is in fact modern day Israel. While Israel is one of the regions wealthier nations, it\u2019s relationship with any of the factions in Syria is\u00a0poor at best.<\/p>\n Turkey and Russia control the northern borders. However it is these regions of Syria in which extremist and separatist groups operate so movement of aid or refugees along this border is extremely hard to manage or\u00a0politically justify by these two countries.<\/p>\n For Syrian refugees, that leaves a choice of: stay and hope for the best; flee through another war zone and desert to the south or; attempt to access the safety of Europe via the Mediterranean.<\/p>\n What is the current Humanitarian situation?<\/p>\n According to the UN:<\/a> What has all of this got to do with History?<\/p>\n Many of the\u00a0problems within the Middle East are, in\u00a0part at least, due to decisions made by\u00a0politicians in the\u00a0past.<\/p>\n One large issue in the region \u2013 not just in Syria \u2013 is that there are large ethnic groups, such as the Kurds, who do not have their own country or right to self determination. These groups often\u00a0participate in rebellions in order to try and achieve their goal of independence. This is due to decisions made in the past. The\u00a0Sykes-Picot Agreement was drawn up during the First World War by British and French diplomats. It redrew the map of the Middle East based on British and French spheres of influence in the event of the Ottoman Empire being on the losing side. This map effectively created countries or states that had never\u00a0previously existed as\u00a0political entities. Syria, for example, was created by these foreign diplomats, as were several other states.<\/p>\n Later developments\u00a0politicise the area in other ways, both regionally and within the International Community. The formation of Israel after the Second World War contributed to numerous issues in the region but also led to different states being supported financially and militarily by the superpowers of the day.<\/p>\n The more recent war in Iraq and the War on Terror have again hardened the views of other nations. The US, for example, will fight extremism and oppose regimes it sees as being repressive. Russia, on the other hand, will support a regime such as that of Assad as it was economically\u00a0prudent to do so and a firm, albeit harsh, regime, ensured a safe border in a\u00a0potentially volatile region.<\/p>\n The consequence of those historical decisions is that many global powers feel that they now have no choice but to intervene in Syria in one way or another.<\/p>\n What has it got to do with Europe?<\/strong><\/p>\n A very large number of Syrian refugees have sought entry into Europe.\u00a0\u00a0Making arrangements for their well-being, distribution throughout the continent and ongoing welfare is extremely important and\u00a0politically quite hard for\u00a0parties to manage.<\/p>\n The humanitarian crisis is costing billions of pounds. It has to be paid for by someone and at least part of that cost will be borne by European nations .<\/p>\n The Northern section of the Middle East is geographically,\u00a0politically and economically significant to Europe. For eastern European nations it is important as a trade route and is an area in which many raw materials have been extracted and exported to Europe and other\u00a0parts of the world.<\/p>\n Further Reading:<\/strong><\/p>\n I Am Syria\u00a0<\/a>\u2013 introduction to the conflict and humanitarian crisis that is supported by Teaching Resources.<\/p>\n![\"Syrian](\"https:\/\/schoolshistory.org.uk\/topics\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/helforsyria-730x484.png\")
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\nWomen and children make up 3\/4 of the refugee population.<\/em>
\nBy the end of 2014, over 50% of the Syrian population will be in need of aid.<\/em>
\nRefugees have little more than the clothes on their backs when arriving at refugee camps.<\/em>
\n6.5 million internally displaced within Syria as of 2015.<\/em>
\nAn estimated 9 million total persons have fled their homes as of 2015.<\/em>
\nOver 1 million people have registered from 2012 to 2013.<\/em><\/p>\n