The figures of migration towards Europe in 2015
According to the figures reported by Frontex, almost 2 million migrants reached Europe in 2015, half of them by sea. The main entrance areas to the Schengen area were Greece and the Balkans, while less than 10% of migrants, among others Eritreans (25%) and Nigerians (14%) cross the coastal areas of Italy. Overall, almost 600 thousand migrants came from Syria, 270 thousand from Afghanistan and 100 thousand from Pakistan, while many still remain unidentified. The asylum requests, almost 1 million and 300 thousand on the whole, were accepted in first-instance for Syrian (95,7%), Iraqi (89,3%), Eritrean (86,3%) and Afghan (72,2%) citizens.
We managed to interview the architect Cameron Sinclair, who designs housing in critical areas and who recently worked on the Syrian border. Father Camillo Ripamonti, director of the Association Centro Astalli who takes care of refugees and asylum-seekers, also expressed to us his point of view on the relationship between migrants and European citizens and on intercultural integration.
