Europe's Refugee Crisis

The Syrian displacement crisis that has consumed seven countries in the Middle East has become the biggest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II. At least 250,000 people have been killed in Syria's civil war, many of them civilians. The security forces of Syrian dictator Bashir al-Assad have been responsible for many of these killings, targeting neighborhoods with barrel bombs and shooting civilians point blank. ISIS has committed genocide, mass atrocities, and war crimes against Christians and other minorities, and likewise targeted, brutalized, and killed Shia and Sunni Muslims who reject its ideology and its brutality. This report examines the role the United States, the European Union and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe should take during this crisis.