afrol News, 13 March - A centre that would provide humanitarian assistance to thousands of irregular migrants stranded was inaugurated in the Libyan capital Tripoli.

The centre forms part of a broader EU-funded initiative to provide comprehensive rapid humanitarian responses to the plight of stranded migrants. It will provide migrants with factual, unbiased information on dangers of irregular migration along with the option of voluntary return to and reintegration assistance in their country of origin.

Besides providing temporary accommodation for up to 40 migrants, medical assistance, support and counselling, the Tripoli centre will also as a training ground for Libyan counterparts to strengthen expertise on assisted voluntary returns.

The centre, co-managed by IOM and Libyan counterparts, including civil society, will eventually be fully handed over by International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

“Every week, dozens of vulnerable migrants, mainly from sub-Saharan Africa, come to the IOM office in Tripoli pleading for return and reintegration assistance. Their dreams to reach Europe have failed or their life as an undocumented migrant is too fraught with difficulties,” said IOM’s Laurence Hart.

“The centre, open to all migrants who wish to return home in dignity and who are in need of help, will provide a complementary concept to deportations. It can also be a model for counterparts in Libya and elsewhere.”

Libya, a country with some 4,000 km of land and 1,700 km of sea borders, is both a transit and destination country for migrants. The North African country's demand for unskilled labour and its economic strength led to increasing number of irregular migration.

But most of the migrants, who could not transit to Europe, get stranded and lacked means of returning him.

Since it started Libya operations in April 2006, IOM had so far assisted 1,830 irregular migrants to return home. Most of the assisted migrants come from Niger, Ghana, Mali, Sudan and Bangladesh.

The organisation has secured funding to help about 2,200 stranded migrants to return home.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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