The UNHCR Community Day Center in Tripoli has closed its doors, leaving many stranded without humanitarian assitance. Aid organizations have raised concerns as migrants, refugees and asylum seekers camped outside the center have been met with violence and unlawful arrests.
Hundreds of migrants have been camping out in front of the UNHCR offices in Tripoli since early October to demand their evacuation from Libya. On Sunday violence broke out, but it is unclear who started it.
A 15-year-old asylum seeker was killed during an attack on a Tripoli shelter earlier this week. Now, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Libya has asked local authorities to investigate the killing and prosecute the perpetrators.
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.
Several people have died following another shipwreck along the Libyan coast over the weekend. The incident took place near the capital, Tripoli. The exact number of victims is so far unknown; however, according to initial reports, there were three bodies washed up on the beach near the town of Al-Zawiya, about 50 kilometers west of Tripoli.
Since April 2019, deaths have been reported daily on the outskirts of the Libyan capital Tripoli due to landmines and explosive traps left there. The clashes between the forces of the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord and troops led by eastern commander Khalifa Haftar have been going on for over 400 days now.
Due to the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, UN refugee agency UNHCR has closed two of its facilities in the Libyan capital Tripoli until Tuesday, March 24. Hotlines for asylum seekers and refugees are still available, says UNHCR.
In mid-February, round 300 migrants were intercepted at sea by the Libyan coast guard and transferred to a detention center at Sharah Zawiya, in the south of Libya's capital Tripoli. The center has been open for at least a year. Recently, it has been taken under the control of the UN-backed government and has become accessible to the IOM.
As the armed conflict continues in the Libyan capital Tripoli and the surrounding areas, the number of displaced has reached over 350,000 people, according to the UN. A health care center in Tripoli is offering childbirth and other services for displaced migrant and refugee women.
A young Eritrean migrant was killed in a recent fire that ravaged part of the Zintan detention center in Libya. The cause of the fire is unknown, but migrants there fear further incidents as conditions in the center are poor and cells are overcrowded.
Caroline Gluck, Senior External Relations Officer at UNHCR Libya, talks about why the UN agency decided to suspend operations at the Gathering and Departure Facility (GDF) in Tripoli and what her staff is doing on the ground to help refugees and asylum seekers in Libya.
In Tajoura, a suburb of the Libyan capital Tripoli, migrants from sub-Sahara Africa line the sides of the streets in the hopes of being hired as day laborers. Locals often stop here to offer them a job for a day or two, but the migrants are often treated badly, they told us.