According to the UN body, those human beings are trying to flee the war in that country, where the conflict nears its five year with 250,000 deaths and 11 millions of internally and externally displaced.
"One of every two people that crossed the Mediterranean Sea this year, or half a million, were Syrians while the Afghans represented 20 percent and the Iraqis seven percent," said the UNHCR from data released today along with the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
According to the document, at least 972,000 human beings arrived to Europe this year through the Mediterranean Sea, and 34,000 did it by land from Turkey to Bulgaria and Greece.
It is the worst migration situation since WWII (1939-1945) and in particular to West and Central Europe, the crisis of the largest magnitude since that in the Balkans in the 90s.
In regard to this complex scene, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, reiterated the importance of not criminalizing the immigrants and not adopting discriminatory policies against them.
In Guterres' opinion, these immigrants' important contributions to society should be recognized in the Old Continent.
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