International Organisation for Migration (IOM) assisted 15,000 migrants to return to their homes from Libya through voluntary humanitarian returns programme, with EU's support and African Union's active cooperation, EU High Representative Federica Mogherini announced Friday.
She noted in a press release that in additon the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has evacuated over 1,300 refugees from Libya.
This fulfils the targets announced at the Taskforce meeting by Mogherini, African Union Commissioner Amira Al Fadil, IOM Director General William Swing and UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner Volker Turk on 14 December 2017.
The Joint Taskforce was established at the margins of the African Union - European Union Summit in Abidjan last November, with the aim to save and protect lives of migrants and refugees along the Central Mediterranean route and in particular inside Libya.
Joint work will continue in the weeks to come. The European Union just adopted on 26 February an additional package worth 115 million euro (USD 141 million) in support of the work of the Joint Taskforce, it said.
The new programmes aim at providing protection to migrants and refugees in Libya, as well as assist the evacuation of additional 3,800 people in need of international protection. The new measures will further assist the reintegration of migrants in their home countries and improve assistance to migrants in the Sahel region and Lake Chad Basin, it added.
SOURCE: Kuna
