African refugees taken to Italy for new life after suffering inhumane treatment in Libya
The UN began taking African refugees to Italy from Libya on Friday, moving them from detention centres where conditions have been condemned by humanitarian groups.
Hundreds of thousands of migrants have fled conflict or poverty at home and are now trapped in Libya, where they had hoped to pay people smugglers for passage to Europe through Italy.
It is the first time the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Libya has taken refugees directly to Europe.
An Italian C-130 plane landed at an airport south of the capital, carrying 110 women and children, and a second flight took 52 people, the agency said.
The African migrants, including many small children, were covered in blankets or bundled in coats as they left the plane on a chilly evening.
“We really hope other countries will follow the same path,” said Vincent Cochetel, the UN agency’s special envoy for the central Mediterranean.
“Some of those evacuated suffered tremendously and were held captive in inhumane conditions while in Libya. Five of these women gave birth while in detention, with very limited medical assistance.”
The agency estimates about 18,000 immigrants are being held in detention centres controlled by the Tripoli government, and aims to move as many as 10,000 next year.
Italy’s Roman Catholic church will house many of the arrivals in shelters across the country, its charity Caritas said, as the migrants from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and Yemen go through the asylum request process.
Migrant arrivals to Italy have fallen by two thirds since July compared to the same period last year, after officials at the UN-backed government in Tripoli persuaded human smugglers in the city of Sabratha to stop.
Italy is also strengthening the Libyan coastguard’s ability to turn back boats.
Its move to open a safe corridor for some of the migrants follows criticism by rights groups, which have condemned Italy’s attempts to block refugees in Libya in exchange for aid, training and equipment to fight smuggling.
“This should be a point of pride for Italians,” interior minister Marco Minniti said on the tarmac. “This is the just beginning.
“We will continue to try to open this humanitarian corridor.”
Migrant smuggling has flourished since the overthrow of Muammar Qaddafi in 2011, with more than 600,000 making the perilous journey across the central Mediterranean in four years.
Tens of thousands of migrants are estimated to be detained by smugglers, and the African Union said as many as 700,000 migrants are in Libya.
The UN has registered more than 44,000 as refugees and asylum seekers.
The world body classifies Friday’s arrivals as vulnerable refugees – children, victims of abuse, women, the elderly and the disabled.