The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson in Libya, Tarik Argaz, reiterated calls for a cessation of the hostilities in the country. This is necessary to allow international organizations to respond to the humanitarian needs of refugees, internally displaced persons, and migrants, as well as to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Now there are new concerns about the country’s poor health services to deal with this disease,” he said. “We are trying to provide medical supplies and medicines to Libya through coordination with the Ministry of Health, to assist people in need of medical attention and care. ” Argaz noted.
According to the estimates of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, there are 4,500 people held in Libya, of whom 2,500 are receiving care from the agency.
“For more than two weeks we have not seen any movement or flow by people who want to cross from Libya to Europe. But, in my personal opinion, there is a fear of this epidemic not only by people wishing to migrate but also by people who are fleeing the virus, and therefore, there is not a lot of flow movement occurring at present. ” he said of the migration movement in Libya.
There are more than 300,000 internally displaced people, of whom 128,000 were displaced since clashes in Tripoli began in April 2019.
