Fresh fighting in the New Year triggers displacement in Libya
The displacement has been centred around Benghazi, Derna, and near the Gulf of Sidra in Ben Jawad and Ras Lanuf. Some 400,000 people are displaced across Libya.
GENEVA, January 15 (UNHCR) - The UN refugee agency on Friday reported that stepped up fighting in Benghazi and other towns and cities in eastern Libya since the start of the year has sparked fresh displacement.
The displacement has been centred around Benghazi, Derna, and near the Gulf of Sidra in Ben Jawad and Ras Lanuf. Many people have had to flee for a fourth or fifth time, making numbers hard to estimate, but in Benghazi alone the local council is reporting that around 90,000 people are unable to return home.
UNHCR estimates that the fresh displacement brings the number of internally displaced people across Libya to about 400,000. In addition, Libya is host to nearly 37,000 refugees and asylum-seekers of different nationalities whose humanitarian conditions are increasingly precarious.
Near the national capital Tripoli in the west, NGOs and the local council estimate more than 83,200 people are living in settlements, schools and abandoned buildings. Many are unable to access health care or education for their children. A significant number have limited ability to access cash for food.
Most have been displaced for three to six months with increasing numbers being hosted in public facilities such as schools. As their cash savings dwindle they are unable to pay for housing rental. The current winter months are especially tough as temperatures in Tripoli, Benghazi and southern towns are below 10 degrees Celsius.
In south-west Libya, internally displaced people from the town of Awbari are facing difficulties in their daily lives as services have been severely disrupted by fighting between rival tribal groups. The current fighting has meant that schools, hospitals and markets remain completely inaccessible.
Shortages of fuel, electricity, water and food are being reported by local crisis committees and NGOs who say some 18,500 people from Awbari are currently displaced in six towns: Sabha, Wadi Shati, Jufra, Ghat, Murzuq and Lewenat.
In the past seven months, UNHCR has distributed aid item to almost 28,000 people in Tripoli and other western cities, including to members of the Tawerghan community displaced since 2011. On January 5, in partnership with the Tomazeen NGO in Libya, UNHCR delivered sleeping mats, plastic sheets and kitchen sets to 150 displaced families in the southern towns of Ghat, Lawenat and Tahala.
Related news and stories
AU, EU and UN push for urgent action to address the pressing needs of migrants and refugees in Libya
Insecurity and COVID-19 fuel refugee mental health concerns in Libya
Repaired Benghazi home brings comfort after loss and displacement
Libya: Returning Home in Dignity
Refugee women scale Atlas mountain to tackle gender violence
Libya: First evacuation flight to Niger in over a year brings 172 asylum-seekers to safety
Your search for « Libya » matched 2133 results. Only the first 1,000 results are displayed. Displaying page 27 of 112 pages.
-
Food aid offers lifeline to refugees under curfew in Libya
13 Aug 2020 ... Libya: Emergency aid, a lifeline for one refugee family with a newborn Sitting under the shade of a ... husband and 13-year-old daughter. “Life in Libya is very difficult for refugees,” said Halima, ...... -
One year of UNHCR evacuations from Libya
23 Nov 2018 ... A year after UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, began life-saving evacuations for vulnerable refugees and asylum seekers out of Libya, almost 2,500 people who have been held in detention in Libya have now ...... -
First group of refugees evacuated from new departure facility in Libya
6 Dec 2018 ... UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, in coordination with Libyan authorities, evacuated 133 refugees from Libya to Niger today after hosting them at a Gathering and Departure Facility (GDF) in Tripoli which ...... -
Second life-saving evacuation of vulnerable refugees from Libya lands in Rwanda
11 Oct 2019 ... refugees arrived at Kigali International Airport, the second evacuation flight to Rwanda from Libya. ... as well as other States who have helped us move vulnerable refugees out of harm’s way in Libya. ...... -
UNHCR calls on Libya to urgently develop plan for asylum seekers and refugees, welcomes authorization to restart evacuations
22 Oct 2021 ... UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, today urged the Libyan government to immediately address the dire ... start of the security raids and arrests by the Libyan authorities in October, we have witnessed a ...... -
UNHCR and IOM joint statement: International approach to refugees and migrants in Libya must change
11 Jul 2019 ... and refugees a core element of its engagement in Libya. As a priority we ask that 5,600 refugees and migrants currently held in centres across Libya be freed in an orderly manner and their protection ...... -
UNHCR appeals for end to arrests of asylum seekers in Libya, calls for urgent resumption of humanitarian flights
8 Oct 2021 ... We are increasingly alarmed about the humanitarian situation for asylum seekers and refugees in Libya. Following a large-scale security operation by the Libyan authorities in the past week, arrests ...... -
Niger
... Niger is the first country to establish an Emergency Transit Mechanism / ETM for refugees from Libya. Niger is a party to the most relevant international and regional legal instruments protecting ...... -
UN Chiefs Call for International Solidarity to Address Migrant and Refugee Flows in Libya
10 Feb 2017 ... UN Secretary-General for Libya Martin Kobler met today in Geneva to underscore the need for a comprehensive approach to address the situation of migrants and refugees in Libya as well as to assist the ......