14th August, 2021
Agency Reports
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has announced that it would inaugurate a project aimed at strengthening consular support for migrants stranded in Libya.
According to a statement issued on Friday, the IOM said it was working with consular officials and migrant community leaders from Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, The Gambia, and Somalia.
The organisation added that the project would “build upon the technical capacity of the four countries to reach and assist vulnerable migrants and provide them with enhanced consular services.”
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 migrants seeking to cross the Mediterranean Sea to European shores.
Rescued migrants end up inside overcrowded reception centres across Libya.
More than 20,000 illegal migrants have been rescued at sea this year, while hundreds of others have died or gone missing off the Libyan coast on the Central Mediterranean route, according to the IOM.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said there were 42,210 registered refugees and asylum-seekers currently in Libya.