US can't shun its responsibility in refugee crisis

European and other international organizations have stepped up efforts to help rehabilitate the refugees in some European Union countries, and last week Germany and Austria opened their borders to receive more refugees.

Yet more than expedient measures are needed to deal with what is perceived as the most serious refugee crisis facing Europe since World War II, as the number of refugees to reach Europe so far this year has already equaled the total number of last year.

Statistics from the United Nations Refugee Agency show that from January to August, more than 300,000 refugees and illegal immigrants crossed the Mediterranean Sea into Europe, with 80 percent of them being from Syria. Of those, 2,850 people died or went missing during the dangerous voyage they undertook.