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"Although according to newspaper headlines the migration crisis is seemingly a European concern, we need to grasp its global nature," Kaljurand said. In her words, alleviating the tragedies of millions of refugees is a serious ordeal coping with which requires international cooperation.

"The migration policy of the European Union and member states of the Council of Europe must support the continued well-being and solidarity of European societies and at the same time help to find solutions for crisis hot spots and the countries around them with large refugee communities. The Common European Asylum System, effective border control, cooperation with third countries, and safe and legal migration routes are components of a comprehensive solution for combating human trafficking," the foreign minister said. "Humanitarian aid and development cooperation, as well as trade, are important activities in alleviating the root causes of the migration crisis and protecting the most vulnerable groups of refugees, particularly children."

At the end of 2015 refugees and people who had been forced to leave their homes numbered 65.3 million. "This is the first time that the threshold of 60 million has been crossed," the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said in its annual Global Trends report released on World Refugee Day.