On Thursday, the European Union offered additional €22 million euros to help refugees and asylum seekers deported from Libya, and now hosted in Rwanda.
The refugees, mainly from the Horn of Africa, whose hopes to cross the Mediterranean sea from Libya to Europe were cut short, are sheltered at the Emergency Transit Mechanism (ETM) center in Gashora, Bugesera District.
The center was set up as a result of a tripartite agreement signed between the government of Rwanda, the African Union, and UNHCR. It has a capacity for 700 people.
Aissatou Ndiaye, UNHCR Country Representative, said that out of the 55,665 refugees and asylum-seekers registered with UNHCR, 4 700 persons of concern are currently estimated to be held in dire conditions inside detention centers in Libya. “They urgently need to be moved to safety and to be provided with protection, lifesaving assistance, and durable solutions,” she said.
She added that the funding allows the organisation to “provide a number of services including shelter, access to health, psychosocial support, and livelihood training for evacuees during the processing of their documents for resettlement to third countries. The needs of asylum seekers and refugees trapped in Libya are immense.”
“Through the ETM and the Government of Rwanda, support solutions are being found to bring them to safety…Over the next years, we aim to support about 3,000 more people to find solutions to their plight,” she added.
Calvo Uyarra, the EU Ambassador to Rwanda, said: “The ETM in Rwanda is a crucial life-saving initiative to evacuate people facing major threats and inhumane conditions in Libya to safety in Rwanda. It is a significant example of African solidarity.”
“The additional funding for the next four years is a testament to the success that this initiative has achieved in the initial phase,” she added.
This latest round of funding builds on an earlier support package of €12.5 million euros between 2019 and April 2022.
At least 1,453 refugees evacuated from Libya have been hosted in Rwanda since September 2019, over 12 evacuation flights. Of these, 919 people departed to third countries for resettlement, and other legal pathways.
The majority move to Canada, France, Norway, and Sweden, among other countries. The next flight from Libya is planned for March 2023.
In January 2022, the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, said in a report that thousands of detainees are held illegally and often in inhumane conditions in facilities controlled by armed groups or secret facilities in Libya. He added that over 12,000 detainees are held officially in 27 prisons and detention facilities across Libya, according to a report obtained by the Associated Press (AP.)
Guterres said in the report that the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) continues to document cases of arbitrary detention, torture, sexual violence and other violations of international law in facilities operated by the government and other groups.
He noted the thousands of detainees who do not appear in the official statistics provided by Libyan authorities – over 12,000 – are unable to challenge the legal basis for their continued detention.
