PARIS (AFP) - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged countries to show compassion and do "much more" to end the escalating migration crisis.

He said during a visit to Paris that the hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees fleeing to Europe "carry out perilous journeys. They should not, when they arrive, encounter new challenges".

He told governments "in Europe and elsewhere to prove their compassion and do much more to bring an end to the crisis".

"Today, there are more people displaced than at any time since World War II," said Ban, speaking in French at a press conference after a meeting with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius.

"In Syria and elsewhere, millions of people flee violence and persecution. Others try to escape poverty and seek ways of living with dignity," he added.

"By our intervention, we must save lives, fight against trafficking and discrimination, bring judicial solutions, examine the profound causes of problems and defend human rights."