During the 20th century, Europe saw some of the largest waves of refugees and most violent forced migrations in human history, especially as a result of the First and Second World Wars. Some of these forced migrations can be more accurately described as ethnic cleansing and, in the case of the removal and ultimate extermination of Jews from Europe, genocide.

And Europe has long been a popular destination in global migration flows. Traditionally, the Mediterranean has functioned as the main route for migrants from Africa or the Middle East into Europe. This is perhaps one of the oldest routes of contact in human history, going back to the Iron Age and the great empires of antiquity.

During the age of European imperialism, networks grew from the colonial relationship between Africa and Europe. Especially since postwar decolonization, migrants have been drawn to the former metropoles because they know the language or rely on diasporic networks.

In the 21st century, as conflicts in Africa mounted (in Eritrea, Libya, and Sudan, to name a few), the number of migrants crossing the Mediterranean soared. Traffickers ruthlessly exploited the vulnerability of these desperate individuals fleeing both persecution and poverty.

Distinguishing between political migrants (those trying to escape persecution) and economic immigrants (those moving from poverty) is difficult but important because international law treats these two categories of people differently.

The 1951 United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, ratified by all European states, defined a refugee as someone who “owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.”

International law guarantees to each person fleeing persecution the right to request asylum in a safe country. The authorities reviewing people’s asylum applications determine whether one is a refugee or an immigrant on a case-by-case basis.

Asylum laws differ in each European state because the EU considers immigration law a matter of national sovereignty. Generally, those who are found not to qualify for asylum as refugees are deported to their country of origin. The uncertainty of the process explains why many people do not even file for asylum, but continue to live in the shadows as undocumented migrants.

Those who succeed in staying in Europe generally take unskilled jobs that the local population does not desire. In this way, they tend to fill crucial labor needs for the host society.

As we look to the future of today’s migration wave to Europe, we need to recognize that the issue of global human migrations may very well define the 21st century.

As globalization has become the rule, and as the West has generally benefitted disproportionately from the economic integration entailed in this global process, it cannot simply ignore the fact that people will continue to cross borders in search of better life, a basic human right.

And, if we return to the claims that today’s migrant crisis is an “invasion,” we see that instead of “flooding” and “besieging” Europe, these migrants and refugees tend to flee for a reason (armed conflicts or economic distress), follow pre-established political and social networks (of empire and diasporic communities), and occupy employment niches that are undesired by the locals (rather than “take our jobs”).

Migration is a highly structured process built upon patterns, historical contexts, and rational individual decisions. And integration is a long-term, complex process that takes generations and requires accommodation between the new arrivals and the host society.

The immediate cause of the current crisis since 2015 is the ongoing civil war in Syria over the past four years, which has left 22 million Syrians incredibly vulnerable. This situation is compounded by the breakdown of authority in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and Eritrea. As a result, desperate people started fleeing in even larger numbers during the past two years.

Besides the big continuing wave of 2015 we are facing with new refugee crisis like Afghan since 2021 and Ukraine since 2022.

https://origins.osu.edu/article/refugees-or-immigrants-migration-crisis-europe-historical-perspective?language_content_entity=en

https://www.dw.com/en/death-along-the-balkan-route/a-18421868

Western African Route

The Western African route connects Senegal, The Gambia, Mauritania and Morocco (including the Western Sahara region), with the Canary Islands in Spain. After staying relatively low for many years, the number of migrants choosing this path to Europe started to increase in 2018 and reached all-time high in 2020.

Situation in 2021

The overall number of detections of irregular border crossings was 22 504, staying on the same level with the numbers from 2020. Similarly to previous years, the pressure peaked in September. The main nationality detected continued to be Moroccan, followed by various Western African nations.

Western Mediterranean Route
In recent years, the number of irregular migrants detected on the Western Mediterranean route, stretching across the sea between Spain, Morocco and Algeria, has increased significantly with a record of over 56 000 detections registered in 2018. This path has also been the main route used by criminal networks to smuggle drugs into Europe.
Situation in 2021
The number of arrivals to Europe via the Western Mediterranean route increased slightly in 2021 as 18 466 cases were reported. Algeria was the main country of departure. The majority of the migrants detected on this route were of Algerian nationality, while Moroccans continued to account for the second most detected nationality.

Central Mediterranean Route
The stretch of the Mediterranean Sea between North Africa and Italy is one of the main migratory routes to Europe, although the number of arrivals has come down from the peak years of 2014-2016.
Situation in 2021
The Central Mediterranean continued to be the most used path to Europe for the second year in row in 2021 as 67 724 migrants were detected on this route. This is an 90% increase from the previous year and accounts for 23% (or roughly one quarter) of all reported illegal border-crossings at the external borders.
A higher rate of arrivals from Libya made it the main country of departure, while more departures from Tunisian and Turkish shores also contributed to the increased migratory pressure on this route.
Tunisian migrants were most frequently detected in this region, although the year of 2021 saw the return of larger numbers of Egyptian migrants, whose number increased nearly sevenfold from the previous year. Bangladeshi nationals were also among the top detected nationalities.

Western Balkan Route
The Western Balkan route has been one of the main migratory paths into Europe, reflected the influx on the Eastern Mediterranean route. After the record number of arrivals in the European Union in 2015, the number of irregular migrants choosing this route fell steadily for a few years and has started to pick up again from 2019 onwards.
Situation in 2021
The Western Balkan route was the second most-used path to Europe as the detections of illegal border crossings more than doubled in 2021 to a total of 61 735.
As with the previous year, the majority of illegal border crossings can be attributed to migrants who have been in the Western Balkan region for some time and repeatedly try to reach their target country in the EU. As in previous years, non-regional migrants continued to attempt to enter the Western Balkans across the southern common borders with Greece and Bulgaria before heading north and trying to exit the region largely at the northern common borders of Hungary, Romania Croatia or with Serbia.

Western Balkan Route
The Western Balkan route has been one of the main migratory paths into Europe, reflected the influx on the Eastern Mediterranean route. After the record number of arrivals in the European Union in 2015, the number of irregular migrants choosing this route fell steadily for a few years and has started to pick up again from 2019 onwards.
Situation in 2021
The Western Balkan route was the second most-used path to Europe as the detections of illegal border crossings more than doubled in 2021 to a total of 61 735.
As with the previous year, the majority of illegal border crossings can be attributed to migrants who have been in the Western Balkan region for some time and repeatedly try to reach their target country in the EU. As in previous years, non-regional migrants continued to attempt to enter the Western Balkans across the southern common borders with Greece and Bulgaria before heading north and trying to exit the region largely at the northern common borders of Hungary, Romania Croatia or with Serbia.

Eastern Mediterranean Route

Situation in 2021

In 2021, the number of arrivals to the EU via this route was 20 567, staying on the same level with the figures of the previous year.

While detections of illegal border crossings continue to drop in Greece, Cyprus experienced significantly stronger migratory pressure compared to previous years as arrivals to its shores doubled to around 12 350 This increase was linked to a higher share of Africans among the detected migrants.

Eastern Borders Route

The overall scale of irregular migration at the 6000-kilometre-long land border between Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, the Russian Federation and the eastern EU Member States – Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Slovakia and Romania – has been much smaller than on other migratory routes. However, this path to Europe still presents significant challenges for border control and in 2021 experienced unprecedented migratory pressure.

Situation in 2021

At the Eastern land borders, a record of 8184 illegal border-crossings were detected in 2021, a more than tenfold increase in comparison to 2020.

This significant increase in detections can be traced to a migrant crisis artificially created by the Lukashenko regime: there was intense migratory pressure with continuously attempted border crossings in all three EU Member States neighbouring Belarus, prompting them to declare a state of emergency.

The number of migrants seeking to reach Europe through this route peaked in the second half of the year.

In the summer of 2021, Frontex deployed teams of European standing corps to Lithuania and Latvia to support the countries with responding to the increased migratory pressure.

The Channel Route

This migratory route from continental Europe to the United Kingdom has become increasingly active just before the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union on 31 January 2020 and exponentially increased in 2021 after the Brexit transition period.

Situation in 2021

In 2021, over 52 000 illegal border-crossings (IBC) using small boats were detected on both sides of the Channel, an increase of 241% compared to the previous year. Roughly 22 000 sea crossing attempts were detected by France and Belgium, while over 30 000 successful crossings were detected by UK border authorities.

In response to the increased migratory pressure, Frontex deployed a plane to the Channel in December 2021 to support Member States with aerial surveillance.

https://frontex.europa.eu/we-know/migratory-routes/western-mediterranean-route/