Burundian Refugee Boy sits inside a Mosquito net
A Burundian refugee boy sits inside a mosquito net in his family's makeshift tent south of the capital Kigali, Rwanda, on May 18, 2015. (Photo: Dai Kurokawa, EPA)
Burundian Refugee Boy sits inside a Mosquito net
A Burundian refugee boy sits inside a mosquito net in his family’s makeshift tent south of the capital Kigali, Rwanda, on May 18, 2015.
(Photo: Dai Kurokawa, EPA)

The heart-wrenching plight of desperate refugees, most of them Syrians, who are fleeing to Europe by land or sea is a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions. Yet it is only part of a troubling trend that has reached unprecedented levels:

More people from every corner of the globe have been uprooted by war, persecution or natural disasters than ever before in history.

• In the U.S., the vast majority of migrants trying to cross the southwestern border are no longer Mexicans looking for better-paying jobs. Now it’s people fleeing Central America for their personal safety, like Maricela, 16, who was being sexually assaulted in El Salvador.

• Refugees of African countries to South Africa are the targets of attack in their new home, blamed for taking jobs from locals. Hear the story of Lydia Lusambo Tshanyi who says her son was attacked and their family receives verbal abuse.

• Millions fleeing Syria’s 4-year-old civil war have created an international refugee crisis, but no country has borne the brunt of their flight more than little Lebanon, where every fifth person now living in this country of 4.5 million has escaped from the war. Gharam Al Shuqi is one of three Syrian widows with 11 children squeezed into a windowless space that used to be a shop.

• Called the “least wanted” and “most persecuted” people in the world, the Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic minority living in Burma, have fled the country on rickety and overcrowded boats, seeking refuge in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Instead, they often find themselves trapped again, snared in a transnational network of smugglers and traffickers that exploits the desperate migrants. Jamal Hussain, 39, was smuggled by boat to Thailand, eating every other day for nearly two weeks.

Migrants and refugees from all over the globe, including those who have left the United States, tell us more of their stories here.

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