According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) 262 migrants detained in Libya were evacuated to Niger on November 12- the largest evacuation from Libya carried out to date. In addition to a successful airlift of 135 people in October this year, this brings the total number of people evacuated to more than 2000 since December 2017. However Amnesty International describes the resettlement process from Niger as slow and the number of pledges inadequate.
The evacuations in October and November were the first since June when the Emergency Transit Mechanism (ETM) centre in Niger reached its full capacity of 1,536 people, which according to Amnesty was a result of a large number of people “still waiting for their permanent resettlement to a third country.”
57,483 refugees and asylum seekers are registered by UNHCR in Libya; as of October 2018 14,349 had agreed to Voluntary Humanitarian Return. Currently 3,886 resettlement pledges have been made by 12 states, but only 1,140 have been resettled.
14,595 people have been intercepted by the Libyan coast guard and taken back to Libya, however it has been well documented that their return is being met by detention, abuse, violence and torture. UNHCR recently declared Libya unsafe for returns amid increased violence in the capital, while Amnesty International has said that “thousands of men, women and children are trapped in Libya facing horrific abuses with no way out”.
In this context, refugees and migrants are currently refusing to disembark in Misrata after being rescued by a cargo ship on November 12, reportedly saying “they would rather die than be returned to land”. Reuters cited one Sudanese teenager on board who stated “We agree to go to any place but not Libya.”
UNHCR estimates that 5,413 refugees and migrants remain detained in Directorate for Combatting Illegal Migration (DCIM) centres and the UN Refugee Agency have repetedly called for additional resettlement opportunities for vulnerable persons of concern in Libya.
For further information:
- ECRE, Op-Ed: Deterrents turned detention – The impact of EU migration measures on migrants in Libya, June 2018
- ECRE, Case against Italy before the European Court of Human Rights will raise issue of cooperation with Libyan Coast Guard, May 2018
- ECRE, Libya: evacuations to Niger resumed – returns from Niger begun, May 2018
- ECRE, Libya: return operations running but slow resettlement is jeopardizing the evacuation scheme, March 2018
- ECRE,Libya: migrants and refugees out by plane and in by boat, 2 March 2018
Photo: (CC) BRQ Network, March 2011
This article appeared in the ECRE Weekly Bulletin . You can subscribe to the Weekly Bulletin here.