Syrian war refugees fight EU red tape

Fifty nautical miles off the southeast coast of Sicily, the refugee boat first appeared as a grey spot on the horizon, rising up or dipping away with the churn of the Mediterranean.

Then, as an Italian coastguard rescue ship drew closer, the small boat came fully into view.

Adrift at sea, the boat heaved with about 150 Syrians fleeing war. Smugglers had left them alone with a satellite phone and an emergency number in Italy.

Captain Roberto Mangione shouted for everyone to stay calm as he positioned his coastguard ship alongside the listing trawler. The Syrians, pale and beleaguered, started clapping. They had been at sea for six days, drinking fetid water, enduring a terrifying storm.

The Syrian exodus has become one of the gravest global refugee crises of recent decades. More than two million people have fled Syria's civil war, most resettling in neighbouring Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon. But since this summer, refugees have also started pouring into Europe.

For many, reaching Europe was merely the beginning of another difficult journey. Having risked their lives in hopes of settling in prospering northern Europe, many Syrians found themselves trapped in the south, living illegally in Italy, hiding from the police, as they tried to sneak past border guards and travel north to apply for asylum.

Europe's broader policies on migration and asylum remain riddled with contradictions and mixed signals. This year, Germany and Sweden promised generous benefits and asylum for Syrian refugees, which inspired thousands of Syrians to pay extortionate fees to smugglers to make the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean.