The EU opens a corridor for 10,000 refugees from Libya

A rubber boat with 129 migrants on board, among them 60 women, is seen sailing out of control about 15 miles north of Al Khums, Libya.(AP Photo/Anna Surinyach)

The EU opens a corridor for 10,000 refugees from Libya

About 10,000 people stranded in Libya and refugee camps can for humanitarian reasons be allowed into Europe in 2018.

 

The Italian Government reports this.

The initiative comes as part of the EU countries’ efforts to address the deteriorating conditions that migrants and refugees are exposed to in Libya. Thousands of people are detained under what is considered as inhumane conditions.

– In 2018, up to 10,000 refugees could come to Europe through humanitarian corridors, says Italian Minister of the Interior, Marco Minniti, in an interview with the newspaper La Repubblica on Sunday.

The announcement came after a group of 162 “vulnerable” people from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and Yemen were evacuated by military aircraft from Libya to Rome on Friday. Among them were children, single mothers and disabled people.

It was the first time that refugees and migrants were relocated directly to Europe by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

There are about 400,000 refugees and migrants in Libya. Among them are 36,000 children, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) states. IOM aims to send 30,000 migrants in Libya back to their homeland in 2018 as part of a voluntary program. This year, 15,000 were returned from Libya.

© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today