UN Evacuates 132 Refugees From Libya Migrant Prison to Niger - UNHCR

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd November, 2018) Libyan authorities have released 132 migrants and refugees from detention camps in Tripoli, and the refugees were flown to Niger for temporary resettlement until aid workers can find other countries willing to provide permanent homes, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said in a press release on Friday.

"In the latest evacuation, 132 refugees and asylum seekers, including women and children, were flown from Tripoli to Niger yesterday where they are being hosted at a UNHCR Emergency Transit Mechanism while longer-term solutions in third countries are being sought for them," the release said.

Despite significant security challenges and restrictions on movements, UNHCR has undertaken 23 evacuations from Libya since November 2017, in which 2,476 vulnerable refugees and asylum-seekers have since been released from detention and evacuated from Libya to Niger (2,069), Italy (312) and Romania (95), the release said.

The latest evacuees had been detained in Triq Al Sikka and Abu Salim detention facilities in Tripoli, 41 of whom were unaccompanied children, the release added.

Meanwhile, the United Nations is pressing Libyan officials to open a departure facility, which is ready for use, to shelter refugees and migrants awaiting future flights out of the country.