172 vulnerable asylum seekers evacuated from Libya to Niger

Libyan Cloud News Agency – Tripoli

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) evacuated 172 vulnerable asylum seekers out of Libya to safety in Niger on November 04, the first evacuation flight to Niger in more than a year, after the Libyan authorities lifted a total ban on humanitarian flights.

UNHCR Chief of Mission in Libya, Jean-Paul Cavalieri, said that UNHCR is relieved to see the resumption of these life-saving evacuation flights, adding that the evacuation can only be a solution for extremely vulnerable people in urgent need of security and protection, due to the limited number of places.

UNHCR stated that many of those evacuated had previously been detained in extremely dire conditions, were victims of trafficking or had experienced violence in Libya.

UNHCR welcomed the intervention of the Libyan Presidential Council, the Prime Minister’s Office, the Foreign Ministry and the Attorney General’s Office, who worked to end the suspension of the lifesaving humanitarian flights.

The evacuation took place through the Emergency Transit Mechanism (ETM) established in 2017 thanks to the Government of Niger, which agreed to temporarily receive on its territory refugees facing life-threatening situations in Libya.