A group of 332 migrants from Niger who were stranded in the Libyan
capital Tripoli during the conflict, have been airlifted out of the
country aboard two IOM-chartered flights.

The group arrived in Niamey, the capital of Niger, on Tuesday
1st and Wednesday 2nd November 2011. They are the first group to be
airlifted among an estimated 2,000 Niger nationals that the
Nigerien Consulate believes remain stranded in Tripoli.

Prior to their evacuation, the migrants had been sheltering in
buildings in and outside of Tripoli, waiting for assistance. IOM
has worked with the Libyan authorities and Consular officials to
facilitate access to the migrants. After verifying their
citizenship status, consular staff issued travel documents to those
who wished to leave.

Prior to repatriation, they were transferred by the IOM team to
the safety of a jointly managed transit centre situated in the
Tripoli suburb of Tweisha, where they were provided with basic
accommodation, hot food, hygiene kits and access to medical
services at an on-site IOM health clinic.

The IOM team is working closely with National Transitional
Council counterparts on the implementation of an interim strategy
for the protection and repatriation of stranded migrants in Tripoli
and in the southern town of Sabha.

The evacuation comes at a time when there are growing protection
fears for stranded migrants who, in many cases, are exposed on a
daily basis to arbitrary detention, harassment and persecution.
There are also concerns for the health of many migrants sheltering
in squalid conditions as cold weather settles in.

"Working in partnership with the Libyan authorities, we have
reached an agreement on speeding up the evacuation and voluntary
repatriation of thousands of stranded migrants in Tripoli and in
Sabha to the south," says Jeremy Haslam, IOM's Chief of Mission in
Libya.

The lack of diplomatic representation for many African
nationalities is making it much harder to conduct citizenship
verification and issue travel documents.

"Our biggest challenge now is overcoming obstacles to
citizenship verification and issuance of temporary travel
documents. We are also obviously concerned of the inherent health
risks associated with the change in weather, given that many
migrants already live in damp, unhygienic conditions with poor
nutrition and lack of access to health services."

IOM is planning further air evacuations for stranded nationals
of Gambia, Senegal, Mali, Ghana, Chad and Nigeria who seek
voluntary repatriation assistance.

The migrants have been working in Libya in a wide range of
employment sectors as casual labourers, unskilled, semi-skilled and
tradesmen. The majority are young men in their 20s and 30s with no
family members. Over 90 per cent of the migrants have no form of
identity document.

When they arrived in Niamey, the returnees were registered by
IOM and were provided with a small stipend to help them buy food
and return to their final destinations.

More than 90,000 Nigeriens have so far returned home from
Libya.  A recent IOM survey found that most returnees are
badly in need of reintegration assistance for themselves and for
their families, which they had been supporting through remittances.
In response to those pressing needs, IOM has launched two pilot
reintegration projects to assist a limited number of returnees from
Niger and neighbouring countries.

The programmes, funded by the European Commission and the
Italian government aim to provide the returnees with the necessary
support to help them set up income-generating activities and
establish cooperatives. Partnerships have also been established
with partner NGOs to provide counselling and mentoring of
beneficiaries.

To date, IOM and partners have evacuated more 314,000 migrants
from Libya by land, sea and air. Operations are set to continue for
several months to assist thousands of migrants who are believed to
be still in Libya and who would like to return to their
countries.

For more information please contact:

Jeremy Haslam

IOM Libya

Tel: +218 917122709

E-mail: "mailto:jhaslam@iom.int">jhaslam@iom.int