European migrant crisis in the context of "Refugee Olympic Team at the 2016 Summer Olympics"

Refugees of the Syrian civil war are citizens and permanent residents of Syria who fled the country in the course of the Syrian civil war. The pre-war population of Syria was estimated at 22 million (2017), including permanent residents. Of that number, the United Nations (UN) identified 13.5 million (2016) as displaced persons in need of humanitarian assistance. Since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011 more than six million (2016) were internally displaced, and around five million (2016) crossed into other countries, seeking asylum or placement in Syrian refugee camps. It is believed to be one of the world's largest refugee crises.

Armed revolts started across Syria in 2011 when security forces launched a violent campaign to halt nation-wide protests. This led to the establishment of resistance militias and the outbreak of a civil war. Assaults on civilian areas by the Syrian Armed Forces resulted in the forced displacement of millions of Syrians and a full-blown refugee crisis. The Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan (3RP) was established in 2015 as a coordination platform including neighboring countries except Israel. By 2016, various nations had made pledges to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to permanently resettle 170,000 registered refugees. Syrian refugees have contributed to the European migrant crisis, with the UNHCR receiving almost one million asylum applicants in Europe by August 2017. Turkey was the largest host country of registered refugees, with 3.6 million Syrian refugees in 2019, 3.3 million in 2023, and almost 3 million at the time of the Fall of the Assad regime in December 2024.

The Calais Jungle (known officially as Camp de la Lande) was a refugee and immigrant encampment in the vicinity of Calais, France, that existed from January 2015 to October 2016. There had been other camps known as "jungles" in previous years, but this particular shanty town drew global media attention during the peak of the European migrant crisis in 2015, when its population grew rapidly. Migrants stayed at the camp while they attempted to enter the United Kingdom, or while they waited for their French asylum claims to be processed.

The camp was located on a former landfill site to the east of Calais. By July 2015, it had 3,000 inhabitants and continued to grow. Although estimates of the number of migrants differed, a Help Refugees (now Choose Love) census gave a figure of 8,143 people just before the camp's demolition in October 2016. As well as residences, the Jungle contained shops, restaurants, hairdressers, schools, places of worship and a boxing club.

A migrant crisis occurs when large numbers of immigrants—including refugees, asylum seekers, or displaced persons—move into a destination country, often overwhelming its systems and communities. These movements are typically triggered by unrest, economic hardship, or political instability in the migrants' countries of origin. The sudden influx of people often strains public services, infrastructure, and social cohesion, placing undue pressure on citizens and local governments. These situations can also raise humanitarian concerns, as existing facilities are rarely equipped to handle large numbers effectively. Notable examples include the European migrant crisis, the English Channel migrant crossings, and post-World War II displacements.

A refugee crisis refers to a movement of "large" groups of displaced people, and may or may not involve a migrant crisis. Compared to refugee crisis (refugee is a refugee), migrant crises also have a separate or distinguish between the "deserving" refugee from the "undeserving" migrant and play into fear of cultural, religious, and ethnic difference in the midst of increasing intense, excessive, and persistent worry and fear about everyday situations and lacking in predictability, job security, material or psychological welfare for many in Europe (such in closure of Green Borders).