The number of migrants and refugees attempting to cross the Mediterranean from Libya has risen sharply over the past year, according to the United Nations.
“As of December 14, the Libyan Coast Guard had intercepted 30,990 migrants and refugees and repatriated them to Libya, a total of almost three times that of 2020 (12,000 people),” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in an internal newsletter. to the Security Council, the contents of which have been brought to the attention of the German Agency.
More than 1,300 people lost their lives or were declared missing in the Mediterranean last year. That number has also risen sharply since 2020, according to figures from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), part of the UN system.
Following the fall of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in the NATO-backed uprising of 2011, Libya has become a platform for hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants seeking to reach Europe via the Mediterranean.
Human rights groups allege that migrants and refugees in Libya are often faced with appalling living conditions, violence, blackmail and forced labor – cases of modern-day slavery have been reported repeatedly in recent years.
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