UN to resettle migrants trapped in Libya in Niger

Photo credit: AFP. Ivorian migrants returning from Libya as they arrive at the airport of Abidjan on 20 November 2017

TMP – 18/01/2018

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) announced plans on 11 December to resettle 1,300 vulnerable migrants stranded in Libya, citing the current critical humanitarian situation in the country.

UNHCR intends to evacuate between 700 and 1,300 extremely vulnerable persons of concern from Libya to Niger by the end of January 2018, including unaccompanied children, single female parents, women at risk, people with serious medical conditions as well as people who have been severely tortured or ill-treated in Libya.

The government of Niger has agreed to temporarily host persons of concern to UNHCR pending their further processing and departure for resettlement.

“We need to get extremely vulnerable refugees out of Libya as soon as possible,” said Volker Türk, UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Protection.

“Given the imminent humanitarian needs and the rapidly deteriorating conditions in detention centres in Libya, UNHCR is actively working to organize more life-saving refugee evacuations to Niger in the coming weeks and months,” said Türk.
The first group, comprising 25 Eritrean, Ethiopian and Sudanese migrants, was evacuated from Libya to Niger in November.