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But it doesn't show any signs of stopping.

Since 2015, Europe has scrambled to cope with the arrival of around 1.5 million people by sea.

In an effort to stem this flow, many European countries have tightened their policies and borders. In 2016, the European Union forged a controversial "one in, one out" deal with Turkey to stop the tide of migrants and refugees fleeing to the continent from the Middle East. And, this year, Italy has adopted an aggressive approach to halting migration across the Mediterranean from North Africa, backing the Libyan coast guard's rescue efforts and cracking down on nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) operating off the country's coast.

Here's what has been happening in the Mediterranean:

Why are NGOs suspending migrant search-and-rescue (SAR) operations in the Mediterranean?

What is the Libyan coast guard doing?

What assistance is Italy providing to the Libyan coast guard and why?

What restrictions has Italy imposed on NGOs?

In late July, Italy's Parliament passed a controversial "code of conduct" for NGOs operating search-and-rescue missions in the Mediterranean. Among the measures are:

Ban on entering Libyan waters except in situations of grave or imminent danger

Ban on phone calls to help migrant departures

Ban on transferring rescued migrants to other vessels

Commitment to allow armed police onto vessels to monitor activities

Three of the eight humanitarian groups operating in the Mediterranean agreed to the terms, while Doctors Without Borders refused to sign, saying it could increase deaths at sea. The mayor of Catania, Italy, told CNN that he believes the code of conduct is behind the recent drop in migrant arrivals there; critics say it is too early to tell.

What is happening to migrant arrivals in Italy?

How is that affecting migrant arrivals elsewhere?

Why has the Italian government shifted its strategy on refugees?

Italy's beefed-up approach to tackling the flow of migrants into the country followed local elections in June, which saw a wave of anti-immigrant mayors and local councilors ushered into office. Critics say the result has left the governing center-left party reeling, forcing Italian leaders to seek short-term solutions at the cost of migrants' lives.

"Our goal is to govern the migration flows," the Italian interior minister, Marco Minniti, said in an August news conference. "A big democracy, a big country, doesn't endure migration's flow, but tries to govern them."

What is happening to migrants intercepted by the Libyan coast guard?

What is the EU's strategy to address the refugee crisis, and how has it changed?

Since the height of the crisis in 2015, governments across Europe have sought to fortify their countries' borders. In February 2017, EU leaders outlined plans to stem the flow of migrants traveling across the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy, and boost the ability of the EU to send people back.

What about the anti-immigrant patrols in the Mediterranean?

An anti-immigrant vessel has underlined just how fraught the debate on refugees has become in Europe. The Defend Europe group deployed its C-Star vessel to the Mediterranean this summer, vowing to stop the "invasion" of refugees attempting to sail to Europe.

"It's created pressure, pressure for the NGOs as we were here, always watching them, documenting them and basically paralyzing them. We've seen it, I think during our operation time, the whole thing has turned against the NGOs. They've lost most public support; many have given up," Martin Sellner, one of the group's leaders told CNN. "We came and they went so definitely a success."

Though the C-Star has been allowed to continue operating in Libya's SAR zone, the Libyan Navy's Qassem told CNN that the coast guard would not work them directly.

"They combat immigration through a spiteful, racist standpoint," Qassem said. "We don't work with racism."

What is happening to the charities that are continuing their missions?

The Spanish aid group Proactiva Open Arms is among several NGOs that have continued to conduct rescue operations in the Mediterranean despite restrictions. Its crew recently reported that the Libyan coast guard fired warning shots while the vessel was in international waters.

"They were warned and told that they could be detained. We gave them a chance to leave and they did," Libyan navy spokesman Qassem told CNN. "They have to respect our sovereignty. They consider themselves above the law and Libyan sovereignty."

CNN's Lorenzo D'Agostino, Sarah El Sirgany, and Saskya Vandoorne contributed to this report. Graphics by CNN's Henrik Pettersson.

See more here:
Europe's migrant crisis isn't going away, but it is changing - CNN

BBC News

Migrant crisis: Spain rescues 600 people in busiest day BBC News Spain's coastguard says it has rescued 600 migrants crossing from Morocco in a 24-hour period, amid a spike in the number of migrant arrivals. The rescued migrants were in 15 vessels including toy paddleboats and a jet ski and included 35 children and ... BBC Minute: On Spain's migrant crisisBBC News Spain rescues HUNDREDS of migrants crossing from Morocco in one day amid spike of arrivalsExpress.co.uk Migrant Crisis: Spain Rescues 600 People In 24 HoursPeace FM Online HiTechFacts -euronews all 55 news articles »

Continued here:
Migrant crisis: Spain rescues 600 people in busiest day - BBC News

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Dimitris Avramopoulos has been praised by European Union insiders who believe his methodical and intelligent approach could stop thousands of people risking their lives crossing into Europe from North Africa every week.

Unlike some of the EUs flashier commissioners, Mr Avramopoulos has gained supporters by quietly but assertively getting on with his work.

This week he was praised as being radical by a Brussels insider, who added: His proposals are much more further-reaching than his predecessors.

The Migration Commissioner, who was once the Mayor of Athens, has previously expressed his concern at the way the EU was attempting to seal itself off from the rest of the world.

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Refugees and migrants wait in a small rubber boat to be rescued off Lampedusa, Italy

History shows that fortresses that protect themselves from external threats enslave those they were meant to protect

Dimitris Avramopoulos

He was quoted several years ago as saying: History shows that fortresses that protect themselves from external threats enslave those they were meant to protect.

And his career in Greek politics has given him a perspective from the front line of the migrant crisis when Greece was the target destination for those aiming to make it into Europe.

His team have already helped to oversee the extension of the Frontex border agency, the use of armed officers against people smugglers and the manner in which refugees are distributed to member states.

But while he is thought to be the brains behind the idea, he often allows Mr Juncker or other commissioners to take the credit, preferring to avoid the spotlight himself.

This thoughtful approach has won him support in Brussels - although some are concerned the commissioner is not tough enough to assert himself among European or North African officials.

One official said he is perhaps too nice for the role and he should be more present rather than shying away.

Another seemed reluctant to give Mr Avramopoulos the credit for his decisions, saying: Either he is good, or his people are - at least something comes out of it.

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They added he is not a great visionary but conceded he was a solid worker.

Before being appointed as Migration Commissioner in 2014 Mr Avramopouloss previous record is certainly chequered.

He was Greeces Foreign Minister under Prime Minister Adonis Samaras but resigned his role during the financial crisis.

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But he has gained respect as a mediator in Greece between the bitter fronts of Hellenic politics.

Whether this will be enough to help the bloc finally make some headway in the EU's fight to solve the migrant crisis remains to be seen.

Read the rest here:
'He's radical!' Could Juncker's right-hand man solve the EU's migrant crisis? - Express.co.uk

In this Tuesday, June 6, 2017 file photo, South Sudanese refugees queue to receive a lunch of maize mash and beans, at the Imvepi reception centre, where newly arrived refugees are processed before being allocated plots of land in nearby Bidi Bidi refugee settlement, in northern Uganda. The number of South Sudanese refugees sheltering in Uganda has reached 1 million, the United Nations said Thursday, Aug. 17, 2017, a grim milestone in what has become the worlds fastest-growing refugee crisis. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)

The number of the South Sudanese refugees in Uganda reaches one million in whats become one of the worlds largest humanitarian issues.

Over the past year, about 1800 South Sudanese citizens arrived in Uganda every day.

They are fleeing the civil war and violence ravaging their home country.

The U.N. said the number of the South Sudanese refugees has grown exponentially since fighting erupted, and Ugandan authorities are struggling to support the growing amounts of refugees.

The World Food Program recently had to cut food rations amid funding shortages.

The government says it needs at least $2 billion to deal with the influx of refugees, but has only been able to raise a fraction of the money.

Link:
Migrant Crisis South Sudan Refugees Exceed 1M in Uganda - One America News Network (press release)

Controversial author Douglas Murrayhas blasted "hypocrites" such as Lily Allen and Nicola Sturgeon in an extraordinary interview with Julia Hartley-Brewer.

With new figures from the United Nations suggesting the migrant crisis has reached a new pitch, Murray, author of The Strange Death of Europe,also says we need to get a grip on the situation and stop letting migrants into our continent until we know who they are.

The latest figures suggest the number of people entering Europe is continuing to rise, with more than9,000 people having arrived in Spain from north Africa this year.

Murray said that, while most ordinary people in Britain and elsewhere in Europe are sick of the situation, high-profile people in politics and the media are exploiting the situation for their own personal profile.

"This has provided a magnificent opportunity forpseuds and hypocrites and grandstanders to have their moment," he told Julia.

"The SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said she would even take in some migrants. That was two years ago and she doesn't seem to have her family of migrants.

"Labour MPs - Yvette Cooper said she'd take in a family of migrants. Endless people... none of them have got them. Lily Allen has still not got her group of young men from sub-Saharan Africa living in their spare room.

"These people are grandstanding on a massive scale about a continent-wade catastrophe and they should feel enormous shame if they could.

"We have to look at the wholeproblem in its totality. The point is 'can we take in all of the world who wants to come to our continent. If you ask a grandstander like Lily Allen or Nicola Sturgeon or Yvette Cooper, they will not, when put on the spot, say 'keep anyone out.' They can't.

"In reality, if we followed the advice of these people, we'd destroy our entire society. [Unlike the majority of people]the people who have a voice in the media and our politicians who are insane."

Murray also said most of the current influx of migrants are actually sub-Sarahan African men, rather than refugees from war-torn areas like Syria, and "they haven't been rescued. they've been picked up by our own continent's vessels, by organised vessels paid for by taxpayers across our continent, and by NGO vessels.

"They are complicit with the traffickers, they are paying the traffickers, they are involved in an illegal business. they are paying to illegally enter our continent, to break outr own rules.

"We do actually have rules on how you claim asylum and it doesn't involve paying a criminal gang to enter Europe."

"we are lifting people from Africa and bringing them into Europe with no idea of who they are or whether they have any legitimate claim to be in Europe."

Murray also cited an extract fromhis book, documenting the policy of Australia to turn around migrant boats or turn them towards other countries, as an example to follow.

"We do not work out who is in our continent once they are in," he said. "We work out who people are, what their claims are, and keep them outside Europe in the process. Keep them in North Africa.

"This is a catastrophe down the road. If we dont maintain our laws, everyone will break them for us."

Listen above.

See more here:
Douglas Murray attacks 'hypocrites' Lily Allen and Nicola Sturgeon over migrant crisis - talkRADIO (press release)