By Dipo Olowookere
Over 4,000 stranded migrants have been assisted so far in 2017 by IOM Libya through its voluntary humanitarian return (VHR) programme.
It was gathered that the latest return was last Thursday (25 May), when IOM helped 165 stranded migrants – 145 men and 20 women – return home to Nigeria. Among the passengers were three unaccompanied children and two female medical cases.
Also on 25 May, two stranded Ethiopian migrants were also able to return home on commercial flights.
Two days earlier, on 23 May, IOM helped 171 stranded migrants – 166 men and five women – return home to The Gambia from Libya. Among the female passengers were an infant and a child; 133 of the migrants had been in Gharyan Al Hamra detention centre. The remaining 38 migrants previously lived in urban areas.
The charter flights, which departed from Tripoli’s Mitiga airport, were coordinated with the Libyan authorities, the Embassies of The Gambia and Nigeria respectively, as well as IOM colleagues in the receiving countries.
Recognizing the high demand for assistance to return home among stranded migrants in Libya, IOM has been scaling up its VHR assistance in 2017. So far this year, IOM Libya has facilitated the VHR of 4,030 stranded migrants in Libya. Of that total, 108 of the assisted migrants were unaccompanied children; 56 were victims of trafficking.
