Saturday

10th Jun 2023

Evacuated women from Libya arrive newly-pregnant

  • Of the some 1,020 people sent to Niger from Libya, only 55 have been resettled elsewhere in Europe (Photo: © UNHCR/Louise Donovan)

Traumatised women arriving in Niger to then seek further refuge in Europe and elsewhere are demanding HIV testing after facing brutal abuse in Libyan detention centres.

"All the women that we evacuate from Libya, the first thing they ask arriving in Niamey airport is not a glass of water. It is HIV testing, that is what they are asking," said Vincent Cochetel, the UN refugee special envoy to the region.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

  • Some 1,000 people evacuated from Libya are now in Niamey (Photo: Jean Rebiffe)

Speaking to an audience at a European Policy Centre event in Brussels on Thursday (15 March), Cochetel said most of them had been impregnated during their detention in Libya. He noted a baby, the first among the group of those evacuated, was born earlier this week in Niger as women seek to rebuild their lives.

But the fear of contracting the virus adds to the long list of documented horrors people stuck in Libyan detention centres have to endure.

Earlier this year, a team of officials from the UN, EU and African Union went to Tripoli to press authorities to release more people and stop the systematic criminalisation of migrants and refugees in the country.

"I have to say that the answers we got from the Libyan authorities was not very positive. We even had one senior official telling us that people are in detention for their protection," said Cochetel.

The move to evacuate the centres was made following CNN television images of migrants being sold off as slaves at public auctions for $400 a head.

Official figures estimate around 5,000 remain behind bars run by government centres, amid reports that security officials linked to those facilities are also plying the smuggling trade.

It is unclear how many are trapped in centres run by militias groups.

Niger had agreed to temporarily shelter people released from the Libyan detention centres under the conditions that they would then be resettled in Europe.

But the government in Niamey has suspended the programme, launched last November by a joint effort from the European Union, African Union, and the United Nations.

Of the some 1,020 people sent to Niger from Libya, only 55 have been resettled elsewhere in Europe.

"That is in three months, 55 departed. That is the best effort Europe can make. We can do better," noted Cochetel.

Some 161 are awaiting for departure to France, Sweden and Switzerland. Another 225 cases are pending decisions from European countries.

The slow pace of departures appears to be linked, in part, to the administrative bottlenecks within the UNHCR.

But Cochetel maintains such issues, like the difficulty of finding and hiring Eritrean interpreters, have since been ironed out.

"We had some processing challenges, they are fixed now. States have to move on the cases they have accepted," he said.

Those that do make it to Niger under the programme are placed in large houses throughout the city as part of an urban reception system where they are free to move around.

The UN agency had last December appealed for EU states to pledge 1,300 resettlement places. They almost doubled it.

Dimitris Avramopoulos, EU commissioner for migration, will be in Niger on Friday as part of a ministerial conference against migrant smuggling and human trafficking.

"We need to further step up resettlement efforts from Niger and member states should stand ready to resettle as soon as cases are referred to them," he said earlier this week.

EU anti-slavery mission in Libya at risk, UN says

Karmen Sakhr, who oversees the North Africa unit at the UN refugee agency, told MEPs that Niger may stop accepting people from Libya if EU states don't take in more refugees.

Libya return demand triggers reintegration headaches

The UN migration agency (IOM) had planned to help return and reintegrate 5,000 people from Libya to their home countries, but ended up aiding 20,000 in 2017. The extra demand has piled on the pressure.

EU complicit in Libyan torture, says Amnesty

The EU and its members states have signed up to 'Faustian pact' with Libyan authorities in the their effort to prevent migrant and refugee boat departures towards Italy, says Amnesty International.

Interview

Spanish NGO boat bosses face jail for rescuing Libya refugees

Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms had its rescue boat seized by Italian authorities in Sicily earlier this month. Three employees have been accused of migrant trafficking and face up to 15 years in jail and huge fines.

Negotiations on asylum reform to start next week, says MEP

The European Parliament is seeking to launch negotiations on key asylum reforms with member states as early as next week. The demand follows Thursday's breakthrough political agreement in Luxembourg among EU interior ministers.

Latest News

  1. Negotiations on asylum reform to start next week, says MEP
  2. EU gig workers compromise dubbed ‘a disaster for workers’
  3. EU's one-off chance to influence Laos taking over ASEAN chair
  4. Belgian bâtonnier on Russia: 'You can have a client you don't like'
  5. EU's proposed ethics body 'toothless', say campaigners
  6. Study: 90% of Spanish inflation 'driven by corporate profits'
  7. If Spanish economy is doing well, why is Sanchez poised to lose?
  8. EU lawyers for Russia: making 'good' money?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of Ministers20 June: Launch of the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations
  2. International Sustainable Finance CentreJoin CEE Sustainable Finance Summit, 15 – 19 May 2023, high-level event for finance & business
  3. ICLEISeven actionable measures to make food procurement in Europe more sustainable
  4. World BankWorld Bank Report Highlights Role of Human Development for a Successful Green Transition in Europe
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic summit to step up the fight against food loss and waste
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersThink-tank: Strengthen co-operation around tech giants’ influence in the Nordics

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. EFBWWEFBWW calls for the EC to stop exploitation in subcontracting chains
  2. InformaConnecting Expert Industry-Leaders, Top Suppliers, and Inquiring Buyers all in one space - visit Battery Show Europe.
  3. EFBWWEFBWW and FIEC do not agree to any exemptions to mandatory prior notifications in construction
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic and Baltic ways to prevent gender-based violence
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Economic gender equality now! Nordic ways to close the pension gap
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Pushing back the push-back - Nordic solutions to online gender-based violence

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us