InfoMigrants has learnt that one of the victims in Tuesday's shipwreck off Libya had been in contact with us back in March. At least 43 people died in the accident. Souleymane came from Guinea and had been in Libya for the last three years. This was his fourth attempt to cross the Mediterranean.
Over 80 migrants, including women and children, were taken back to Libya within 24 hours by Libyan coast guards, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) tweeted on January 4. The UN agency also said it provided assistance to another 79 people who were returned to Libya by coast guards, while "eight others are reported missing at sea."
At least 120 people, including 28 children, were returned to Libya by the coast guard on Wednesday night. The UN migration agency IOM repeated that Libya is not a safe country for return.
The quest for a better future in a continent starved of opportunities has left many African youths with a dilemma. The journey to Europe and the USA, which has for a long time been sold as the best solution for the realization of dreams, is proving to be a mirage. On this week's 77 Percent, we hear from young African migrants in Sicily, Italy.
Within three days, Libya's coast guard intercepted 935 migrants in the Mediterranean and returned them to Libya. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) once again denounced the longstanding practice in light of the documented abuse and exploitation that await returnees in Libyan detention camps.
The IOM reported that at least 11 migrants, including a pregnant woman, have drowned on Sunday when their boat capsized off the coast of Libya trying to reach Europe. The incident was the third of its kind in the Mediterranean in a week.
The UN-recognized government in Libya has detained a coastguard commander Abdalrahman Al-Milad in connection with human trafficking and migrant smuggling. The UN Security Council previously accused him of intentionally sinking migrant boats.
The UN Human Rights Office OHCHR has called for urgent action to deal with the horrors faced by migrants trying to cross the central Mediterranean sea and the situations they confront in Libya as well as once they reach Europe.
Amnesty International in a new report said that thousands of Europe-bound migrants who were intercepted and returned to Libya were forcefully disappeared after being taken out of unofficial detention centers. Amnesty urged the EU to reconsider its cooperation with Libyan authorities.
The UN migration agency IOM reported on Friday, September 25, that a shipwreck off the Libyan coast had left at least 13 dead and 22 survivors which were brought ashore by fishing vessels.
Two dozen migrants are believed to have drowned after their boat capsized off the Libyan coast in the night from Sunday to Monday. So far this year, close to 600 people have died in the Mediterranean trying to get to Europe.
The Council of State, Italy's highest administrative court, rejected an appeal contesting the 2017 allocation of 2.5 million euros to Libya's interior ministry from Italy's Africa Fund. The appeal claimed that the funds, used to support Libya's coast guard, worsened the condition of migrants in Libya.