Participants at the UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants will today (Monday) hear the findings of a ground-breaking research project, which shed new light on why refugees and migrants left their home countries to make the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean.

As part of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)-funded ‘Unravelling the Mediterranean Migration Crisis’ (MEDMIG) project, an international team of researchers  interviewed 500 refugees and migrants about their experiences. Over three months when arrivals were at their peak they spoke to people who had arrived on the shores of Greece via the Eastern Mediterranean Route from Turkey, as well those who had crossed into Europe using the Central Mediterranean Route from Libya in North Africa.  Their findings on these two routes will be launched at the UN Summit in New York today.

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