A chronology of the refugee crisis in Europe

2015

• Hundreds of thousands of people escape war and suffering, mostly from Syria
  

 

• Many try to reach Western Europe via the Balkan route
  

 

• In July, Hungary erects a razor-wire fence along the country’s border with Serbia in order to decrease migrant arrivals
  

 

• In August 2015, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announces an open borders policy towards refugees coming into Europe. She says "Wir schaffen das" or "We’ll manage it" in response to the crisis
  

 

• The photo of a drowned Syrian boy washed up on a beach in Turkey in September 2015 goes viral. It becomes a pledge to Europe’s  responsibility to help
  

 

• In the same month, the slogan ‘Refugees Welcome’ becomes a symbol for solidarity movements
  

 

• In the end of 2015, several European countries set up border controls, suspending the Schengen system of open-border and passport-free travel
  

 2016

 

• In March 2016, the Balkan route through Macedonia, Serbia and Hungary is officially closed. Thousands of migrants remain trapped in Greece
  

 

• In the same month, the EU-Turkey deal is signed: The EU agrees to safely resettle one Syrian refugee from Turkey for each irregular migrant returned to Turkey from Greece
  

 

• In November 2016, over 340 migrants die as several migrant boats capsize off the coast of Libya
  

 

• In December 2016, the return of rejected Afghan asylum seekers from Germany begins, amidst protest
  

 

• In the same month, over 5,000 people lost their lives while crossing the Mediterranean Sea
  

2017

 

• In February 2017, Italy strikes a controversial deal with Libya to stem migrant arrivals, training the Libyan coast guard to turn back vessels and return migrants to Libya
  

 

• NGOs running migrant rescue operations in the Mediterranean are increasingly under fire in the summer of 2017, condemned as “migrant taxis” by Italian prosecutors
  

 

• The right-wing nationalist party Alternative for Germany (AfD) enters parliament in September 2017, with a clear anti-immigrant rhetoric
  

 

• In the same year, other populist and anti-immigrant parties and movements across Europe are making headway
  

 

• In November 2017, CNN footage shows migrants being sold off at slave auctions in Libya, prompting outrage in Europe and Africa
  

 2018

 

• At the beginning of the year, the migrant routes shift: The Western Mediterranean Route is seeing a threefold increase in arrivals in 2017, fewer people are arriving in Italy
  

 

• In February 2018, thousands of migrants remain stranded in overcrowded camps on Greek islands. Amnesty International calls the conditions an “open wound” for the EU and human rights
  

 

• In May 2018, the German Cabinet approves legislation to reintroduce family reunifications for refugees with subsidiary protection. As of August 2018, 1,000 family members will be allowed to come to Germany
  

 

• In June, Bosnia is seeing a drastic increase in migrant arrivals: Hundreds are camping out on the streets
  

 

• According to UNHCR, 68.5 people are forcibly displaced worldwide (refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced people)