Some 830 migrants trying to reach Europe from Libya have been returned since mid-last week, including over 600 on Friday and Saturday, according to the IOM and Libya's navy. Eleven migrants reportedly drowned off Libya on Sunday. Separately, UNICEF warned of the dire situation of tens of thousands of migrant and refugee children in Libya.
New accusations have been made against the EU border protection agency Frontex in its handling of migrants in the Mediterranean. A new report compiled by a group of media outlets states that Frontex plays a central role in ensuring that migrants are intercepted by Libya’s coast guard and brought back to the North African country.
On Tuesday morning 236 people were rescued off the coast of Libya by Ocean Viking, a rescue ship run by the SOS Mediterranee aid group.
Concluding a project on mental health for refugees in Agadez, Niger, the organization Doctors for Human Rights (MEDU) has launched an appeal to Europe, highlighting the need to ensure humanitarian corridors and the possibility of integration.
Migrant smuggling is a global crime that exposes migrants to life-threatening risks. The EU’s New Pact on Migration and Asylum puts preventing and combating smuggling at the center of its comprehensive approach to migration.
Migrant aid groups, the Pope and the UN have denounced the latest tragedy in the Mediterranean which likely claimed the lives of 130 migrants. Libya's coast guard rejected allegations of not doing enough to help.
Up to 130 migrants are feared dead after a shipwreck off the Libyan coast. While some have accused Libya of ignoring the plight of migrants at sea, the government said it tried its best to locate the missing boat.
The Italian interior minister has met with Libyan leaders in Tripoli. Migration was at the top of the agenda as ministers from both countries “reaffirmed the importance of their bilateral relations.”
Matteo Salvini, the head of Italy’s far-right League party, is to stand trial for kidnapping and abuse of office. The former interior minister is charged with refusing entry to a Spanish rescue ship and the 147 people it had saved in the Mediterranean Sea.
Following the April 11 release of Bija, an alleged Libyan trafficker who has been accused of crimes against humanity by the UN, several migrants told InfoMigrants about their experiences at the hands of this feared boss of the Libyan coast guard in Zaouia.
An alleged migrant smuggler in Libya has been released four months after his arrest in Tripoli. Abdel-Rahman Al-Milad had been accused of involvement in trafficking and abuse of migrants and refugees.
One person was killed and two others were injured in a shooting at a detention center in Tripoli last Thursday, Doctors Without Borders says. The medical charity has called for the immediate release of migrants from Libya’s detention centers.