Many Eritrean citizens are leaving their country, taking enormous risks along the way to a longed-for place of safety. The process is part of a larger movement of people towards Europe from many countries across the Middle East and Africa, but also has its own distinctive characteristics.United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other sources track the rise in numbers.6,400 Eritreans applied for asylum in Europe in 2012; 14,580 in 2013; and 44,600 in 2014.
At present around 5,000 Eritreans are fleeing their country each month, making this small country of 6 million a top producer of refugees. Eritreans are second only to Syrians as the largest group of those entering Europe to seek protection. Among them are unaccompanied minors and vulnerable women, many of them arriving by boat after surviving dangerous journeys through the Sahara desert and then across the Mediterranean.
The sheer magnitude of the numbers leaving Eritrea, and the risks that people take in order to do so, are at last beginning to receive proper attention. Yet as long as the situation continues, the basic questions it raises - why are so many Eritreans abandoning their homeland, and what are consequences for them and their homeland? - must continue to be asked and answered (see "Eritrea, a geeration in flight", 16 October 2013).
