In The News

Migrants' Bodies Pulled From Mediterranean

Ahmed Elumami and Marton Dunai August 31, 2015
Europe lacks coherent policies on the refugee crisis as thousands flee conflict in the Middle East and poverty in Africa. The desperate pay smugglers for transportation. The report from Reuters suggests that at least 2,500 died since January, but the numbers are likely much higher with more than 10 million displaced people in Syria and Iraq alone. “As bodies pile up, so does criticism of Europe...

Inside the Migrant "Jungle" in Northern France

Peter Wieben August 26, 2015
An unprecedented mass migration is underway with millions displaced, fleeing poverty, conflict and unsustainable conditions in the Middle East and North Africa. The most resourceful leave all possessions behind to live in the squalor and relative security of European camps rife with ethnic, religious and racial tensions. Peter Wieben describes a crowded camp in Calais, near the entry to the...

Denmark: First EU Country Planning to Run Anti-Refugee Adverts in Foreign Papers

Emmanuel Akinwotu August 20, 2015
Europe struggles to manage a refugee crisis. Tens of thousands of people are fleeing conflict in the Middle East and poverty in Africa; 2,000 have died trying to cross the Mediterranean this year to reach Italy or Greece, which have their challenges with tight budgets. The wait for asylum applications is long, and conditions of camps holding asylum seekers are grim. Smugglers pass out brochures...

When Christian Power Was Arrayed Against a Judeo-Muslim Ideology

Jonathan Gil Harris July 30, 2015
A narrative common in the West often pits Christianity and Judaism against Islam. It was not so in an earlier era. Christianity was a militant force during the 16th century. By 1550, Portugal ruled India’s best western ports, and India became a refuge for Iberian Jewish families, also known as New Christians, who fled the persecutions of the Inquisition. Jonathan Gil Harris, author and professor...

Desperate Millions Flee Poverty, Persecution and Inequality

Joergen Oerstroem Moeller June 11, 2015
The world confronts an immigration challenge as vast numbers flee conflict and religious persecution in the Middle East and South Asia along with stark poverty in Africa and South America. The world has 50 million forcibly displaced people, and millions more leave their homelands in search of opportunity. Widening inequality and demographics, with low fertility rates in wealthy nations and high...

Displaced Again and Again, Some African Migrants Had No Plan to Land in Italy

Jim Yardley May 5, 2015
Despite the Mediterranean journey’s many dangers and a hostile welcome on arrival, Italy remains a destination of hope for refugees. Warm weather and expanding conflict in North Africa is increasing the numbers attempting the crossing of the Mediterranean to land on Italian shores. Laborers who worked in Libya and had no plans of heading to Europe suggest their only option is fleeing expanding...

An Unending Refugee Tragedy: Europe's Path to Deadly Partition

Matthias Gebauer, Horand Knaup, Peter Müller, Maximilian Popp, Jörg Schindler and Christoph Schult April 28, 2015
European leaders were ashamed after the 2013 sinking of a rickety boat with more than 500 refugees near the Italian island of Lampedusa. The EU promised measures to avoid such tragedies, but thousands still use life savings to attempt the treacherous crossing, fleeing poverty and conflict in Africa, Syria and beyond. Many refugees do not survive. The article in Spiegel Online reviews the array of...