The United Nations recently reported that the number of refugees, asylum seekers and displaced people has exceeded 50 million people worldwide for the first time since WWII.

UNHCR records show that there were some 51.2 million displaced people by the end of 2013, a six million jump over 2012 figures. The UNHCR said this was mainly due to the war in Syria which has seen some 2.5 million people becoming refugees and 6.5 million internally displaced.

This is not the first time that the world has had to deal with massive flows of refugees. In the aftermath of the Great War, there were some 10 million displaced people in Europe alone. Before the dust had even settled, WWII, the worst conflict our planet has ever witnessed broke out and by the end of 1945, there were some 60 million people displaced around the world.

Europe was in tatters and yet hundreds of thousands of Europeans were resettled and integrated. By 1959, some 900,000 had been absorbed in Europe – many of them Germans fleeing the encroaching tide of Communism from the East. 461,000 were taken in by the US and a further 523,000 by other countries.

Aylan’s haunting photograph continues to stir the emotions of people, and sadly, we are in a situation where half of popular opinion seems to be aimed at absorbing those who are fleeing mass murder, arbitrary killings, rape and destruction in Syria. Others are absolutely indifferent. What is even more worrying is that some of the bigots changed their tune as soon as they learned that Aylan’s family were Kurds, not traditional Muslims. Even in the face of such a horrible tragedy, religious sentiment, rather than human compassion comes into the fray.

Only a few weeks ago, images of black children washed up on beaches were published, yet they did not elicit the same feelings as Aylan’s photograph. Why ? Because Aylan looked like a young Maltese boy. He was wearing red and blue which contrasted with the white sand his little body lay on. Children in Malta play on the sand, they swim in the sea and they enjoy their summer. Anyone with a heart and one ounce of compassion drew the same parallel, that boy deserved a future. Perhaps Aylan’s death will serve a purpose. Perhaps it will shake the world into action. Ignoring the facts and bickering over numbers is not going to change anything. We have a human tide of desperate people trying to make a better life, trying to escape poverty and persecution. Does it ring any bells? Malta is a nation of migrants, our forebears left Malta simply to find a better life. And yet, we continue to stick our heads in the sand and say no more, we are full. It is true that our little island cannot take masses of people. But we have seen football clubs in Germany offering training grants for potential footballers. We have seen people in Iceland offering their houses. People in France have offered their spare rooms. The world needs to wake up. People are being driven out of their homeland by brutal regimes. Saying no and closing our borders will continue to disenfranchise people and in doing so, we are already creating the next breed of home grown terrorists. Maybe in the very distant future, many decades from now, Aylan will be remembered as the boy who broke down the barriers of religion, mistrust and sectarianism. We are one species. Racial barriers will gradually disappear.  This is one of the most terrible phases of our evolution. At the end of the day, we are merely apes. And out of the whole family of apes, we are the most destructive, vindictive and callous. And yet we call ourselves civilised. We ought to re-examine our definition of the human species.