More Stranded Migrants in Libya Benefit from Voluntary Return and Reintegration
Some 350 undocumented migrants from Niger, Ghana, Mali, Burkina
Faso, Senegal and Togo who are currently stranded in Libya with no
money or travel documents, some en route to Europe, will benefit
over the coming month from IOM's voluntary return and reintegration
programme.
The programme, set up in July 2006 in response to requests from
West African embassies in Tripoli, has so far provided
comprehensive return and reintegration assistance to 2,890
impoverished and abandoned migrants from 23 African and Asian
countries.
Recent additional funding from Italy to an amount of 600,000
Euros will provide return and in-kind reintegration assistance to
more than 400 stranded migrants. The assistance, to an amount of
500 Euros, enables migrants to start an income-generating activity
after they return home.
"Providing reintegration assistance to migrants who opt for
voluntary return is also paramount to help them come to terms with
their failure," says Laurence Hart, IOM's Chief of Mission in
Tripoli. "Furthermore, it encourages them to share some of their
often traumatic experiences with others who consider calling up
people smugglers to reach Europe, not knowing that smuggling
networks always show total disrespect for the fundamental rights of
migrants."
Earlier this year, IOM opened the first humanitarian centre for
stranded migrants in Tripoli to provide vulnerable migrants with
medical assistance, support and counselling. The centre, part
of a broader project co-financed by the European Union and Italy,
with additional support from the United Kingdom, also offers
temporary accommodation for up to 40 people.
With some 4,000 kilometres of land and 1,700 kilometres of sea
borders, Libya is both a transit and a destination country for
migrants. Irregular migrants are drawn to Libya by the demand
for unskilled labour and the strength of the local economy, and now
number close to a million. Many remain stranded in transit,
unable to get to Europe or to return home.
To find out more about the plight of stranded migrants in Libya,
please go to:
For further information, please contact:
Laurence Hart
IOM Tripoli
Tel: +218 91 383 25 96
E-mail:
"mailto:lhart@iom.int">lhart@iom.int