UN CALLS FOR ACTION TO PROTECT LIBYA MIGRANTS AFTER FATAL LORRY CRASH
▶ Libya is a major staging post for people trying to reach Europe and smugglers often overload vehicles and vessels – 19 were killed in the recent accident
Pressure is mounting on the international community to do more to tackle the migration crisis in Libya after a crash left 19 people dead.
A lorry carrying about 300 refugees and migrants tipped over in the north-west of the North African country on Wednesday.
Smugglers had been attempting to transport the group of migrants to Tarhuna, a town 64 kilometres south-east of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, the UN migration agency (IOM) said.
Survivors said the accident occurred when the lorry, overloaded with passengers, drove into a hole in the road. Many of those on board had been crammed into cargo containers.
“Our priority needs to be protecting these migrants and others throughout the country, while making migration through Libya safe and regular,” said Othman Belbesi, the chief of mission for IOM Libya. “One death, whether in the desert or at sea, is one too many.”
Libya is a major staging post for migrants hoping to reach Europe from the rest of Africa.
Of the migrants involved in the lorry crash, 138 were Eritrean while the rest were from Somalia and Ethiopia.
The UN has moved more than 1,000 refugees from Libya since November, the organisation’s refugee agency, the UNHCR, said yesterday.
The UNHCR said two flights only this week had taken 278 vulnerable refugees from Tripoli to Rome, Italy, and Niamey, Niger.
“These evacuations have provided a new chance at life for more than 1,000 refugees who were detained in Libya and suffered tremendously,” said Vincent Cochetel, UNHCR’s special envoy for the central Mediterranean. “By the end of 2018, we hope to evacuate thousands more.”
The agency said it was looking for “durable solutions” in third countries for the 1,084 refugees who have been successfully relocated. Mr Cochetel, however, called on other countries to provide additional places to help with the resettlement process.
“These evacuations are the best example of the impact that international solidarity can have on refugees themselves, but much more needs to be done.
“Only 16,940 resettlement places have been received so far for the 15 priority countries of asylum along the central Mediterranean route, including Libya and Niger.
“We call on all countries to come forth with additional places that will provide a tangible solution for many more refugees who are still in Libya,” Mr Cochetel said.
Last year, 171,635 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea, many of whom came from Libya, according to statistics provided by the IOM.
The North African country’s coastline is an attractive prospect for people smugglers because it is largely unpoliced.
A study published last year by the UNHCR found that about half of those travelling to Libya intended to stay there because the country once offered the best employment opportunities in the region.
However, the difficult economic situation since the fall of Muammar Qaddafi has led to many fleeing to Europe instead, risking their lives on the treacherous journey across the Mediterranean.
Migrant arrivals in Europe were far lower last year than they were the year before, partly thanks to an agreement made in August between the EU and Italy in which they trained the Libyan coastguard to intercept boats and return the people on board to Libya.
The number of arrivals across the region more than halved from 363,504 the year before.
But aid agencies criticised the deal, which has led to a huge increase in the number of migrants being detained, over concerns about conditions in detention centres.
Amnesty International said detainees were at almost certain risk of “torture, rape and even of being killed”.