Migrants in Libya: MEPs to discuss how to ease returns and fight smuggling

The mistreatment of migrants and refugees in Libya, and arrangements for their resettlement or return, will be debated with UNHCR i in the EP at 15.00 on Monday.

How to end the mistreatment of migrants and refugees stranded in Libya, the point of departure of up to 90% of people crossing the Mediterranean Sea to Europe, will be discussed by Civil Liberties Committee and Foreign Affairs Committee MEPs, members of the Delegation for relations with Maghreb countries and UNHCR, Commission and External Action Service representatives.

Following several media reports that migrants have fallen victim to the slave trade in Libya, the EU and the African Union, together with the UN, agreed in November 2017 to set up a joint Task Force to save and protect lives along the African migration routes and in particular inside Libya, accelerating assisted voluntary returns to countries of origin, and the resettlement of those in need of international protection.

Fighting smuggling and easing returns to countries of origin are EU i priorities.

Recent months have seen reductions in the number of arrivals in Europe and in deaths at sea but the International Organisation for Migration (IOM i) estimates that there are still around 800,000 migrants in an irregular situation in Libya, many of them in detention centres in dire conditions.

When: Monday, 5 March, from 15.00 to 16.00

Where: European Parliament in Brussels, József Antall building, room 4Q2

You can follow the event live.