TRIPOLI— A group of 91 illegal immigrants, mostly children, on Wednesday were voluntarily repatriated from Libya to their home country Niger.
“Based on instructions from the Interior Minister regarding resumption of voluntary repatriation flights for illegal immigrants, a flight deported from Misurata International Airport to Niger’s Niamey airport through the International Organization for Migration (IOM),” Hussain Attorki, head of migrants deportation department in Misurata International Airport, said.
“The flight carried 91 illegal immigrants, including six men, 25 women, and 60 children and infants,” he added.
Libya has been suffering insecurity and chaos since the fall of the late leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, making the North African country a preferred point of departure for illegal immigrants who want to cross the Mediterranean Sea to European shores.
The Voluntary Humanitarian Return program, run by the IOM, arranges the return of illegal immigrants stranded in Libya to their homeland.
Since 2015, more than 53,000 illegal immigrants have been repatriated from Libya through the program, which is carried out under the EU-IOM Joint Initiative for Migrant Protection and Reintegration and through the Italian foreign ministry’s Migration Fund.
Meanwhile, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Wednesday that 357 illegal immigrants were rescued and returned to Libya.
“357 persons were returned last night to Tripoli (90) and to Zawiya (267) in two separate operations. 54 women and 22 children among them,” UNHCR tweeted.
“The boat returned to Tripoli with 90 onboard was in distress at sea for two days. UNHCR & IRC provided medical aid & assistance to all survivors,” it said.
Many illegal immigrants, mostly Africans, choose to cross the Mediterranean Sea to European shores from Libya, given the chaos and insecurity that have plagued the North African country since the fall of the late leader Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in 2011.
According to UNHCR, nearly 28,000 illegal immigrants have been rescued and returned to Libya so far this year.
Rescued migrants were detained inside overcrowded reception centers across Libya, despite repeated international calls for closing those centers.
Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK