IOM Appeals for an Initial Eleven Million Dollars to Assist Migrants Fleeing Violence in Libya
GENEVA, Switzerland, February 25, 2011/African Press Organization (APO)/ — IOM is urgently appealing for an initial US$11 million to assist migrants caught out by the violence in Libya and who are in dire need of evacuation and repatriation assistance.
The US$11 million would allow the Organization to assist a first group of 10,000 migrants although official requests by several countries to IOM to evacuate and repatriate their nationals could involve assisting at least 50,000 people.
Among countries to have requested help from IOM is Egypt, which is already carrying out unilateral evacuations of its nationals from Tunisia. However, with an estimated one million Egyptian migrant workers stranded in an increasingly volatile environment, its government has asked IOM to help in their safe evacuation.
This would include assisting Egyptian migrants stranded in the Libyan port of Benghazi, about 600 kms from Egypt’s border, to get to the Egyptian port city of Alexandria by boat. Assistance would involve providing support for travel to the embarkation point, issuing travel documents where necessary, sea transport as well as reception and onward travel assistance to final destinations in Egypt.
Other countries that have formally approached IOM to help their nationals with evacuation or repatriation include Bangladesh, Moldova, Montenegro, Nepal, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.
The funding would also allow IOM to assist migrants of other nationalities – third country nationals (TCNs) – on the Egyptian and Tunisian borders to be safely repatriated to their home countries and to be given post-arrival assistance.
Nepal, for example, has asked IOM to help repatriate about 600 of their nationals who had been working in the Libyan town of Derna and who are now waiting to cross at Salum border crossing. It also reports that 900 of their nationals currently stranded in Tripoli and Benghazi would need assistance if the situation deteriorates further.
In Tripoli, about 350 Sri Lankans are taking shelter at the Sri Lankan Embassy with several hundred other Sri Lankans spread around the country. Meanwhile, about 750 Bangladeshis out of an estimated population of 50,000 are also now heading for the Egyptian border and who will also need food, water and shelter assistance upon arrival.
Vietnamese authorities have told IOM that there are about 10,500 of their nationals in Libya. Although they say some have left, most are still in the country, many without travel documents which were probably kept by their employers.
“The situation for migrants inside Libya is extremely difficult and we are deeply concerned about their plight,” says IOM Director General William Lacy Swing.
“We, therefore, urge donors to fund this appeal quickly. This would allow IOM to assist and protect migrant workers who have crossed borders at great risk.”
Although IOM teams are at the Ras Adjir border point between Tunisia and Libya and at Salum between Libya and Egypt providing assistance to migrants and assessing needs, appeal funds would allow IOM to immediately set up evacuee reception and processing centres at both sites. This would ensure better registration of and assistance to migrants crossing Libya’s borders with its neighbours.
The centres would also serve as crisis information points as well as staging areas for the provision of transportation assistance to migrants.
At least 40,000 people have already crossed into Tunisia and Egypt in the past few days with more arriving on a daily basis. This includes about 8,000 Egyptians currently stranded in southern Tunisia, according to the Tunisian Red Crescent, taking shelter wherever they can.
Hundreds of Nigeriens have also crossed Libya’s southern border with Niger where IOM is providing assistance for the migrants at its reception centre in Dirkou.
“Although IOM is initially asking donors for US$11 million, it is likely that this figure will be revised as the situation evolves and in order to help us meet the requests of not just governments, but also of individuals, stranded inside Libya in frightening and worrying situations,” adds Swing.
IOM has a long track record of providing humanitarian assistance to member states and migrants requiring evacuation from emergency and conflict situations. During the first Gulf war in 1990 it facilitated the evacuation of over 210,000 migrant workers from the region. In 2003, following the invasion of Iraq, and in 2006, following the invasion of Lebanon, it helped thousands more migrants return home to Asia and other Middle Eastern countries.
SOURCE
International Office of Migration (IOM)
