03.04.2020

The situation in Libya remains dramatic

Marie von Manteuffel is a lawyer and works as a refugee and migration expert in the Berlin office of "Doctors without Borders". She explains the current situation in Libya.

Even though Libya has hardly received any media attention in recent weeks, the situation in the civil war country remains tense. The fighting continues unhindered. The civilian population is suffering enormously as a result.

This is especially true for the thousands of refugees and migrants, for whom there is neither forward nor backward movement, who find no protection in Libya and for whom there is hardly any aid available. Already weeks ago, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) had to give up its only shelter for refugees in the greater Tripoli area.
Some internment camps run by the Libyan unity government, to which until recently MSF teams had regular access, are also being closed down these days, without it being known where the interned refugees are being taken.

There is reason to believe that many of the people formerly held in official detention camps are now in unofficial camps to which even the few aid organisations remaining in the country have no access. In other such detention camps, hundreds of people have simply been forgotten after years of imprisonment.

A few days ago, the resettlement and repatriation programmes of the UNHCR and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) were officially halted. At the same time, none of the civilian sea rescue vessels are currently able to sail into the central Mediterranean to assist people trying to reach safety via the Mediterranean.

And the danger of COVID-19 spreading is also increasing in Libya, with visas for humanitarian aid workers being partially cancelled and the eastern part of the country sealed off. In the western part of Libya, such restrictions have not yet occurred, but they are becoming more likely there too.