Libyan Interior Minister Imad al-Tarabulsi today rejected the resettlement of migrants on Libyan territory, stating that between 70 to 80% of the foreigners present are “irregular.” A week before an international forum on Mediterranean migration convenes in Libya, al-Tarabulsi reported at a press conference in Tripoli that “today in Libya there are approximately 2.5 million foreigners,” noting that “70 to 80% of them entered illegally through easily breached areas of the country.”
The Libyan minister reaffirmed the country’s refusal to “resettle” migrants, regarding migration as a national security issue and emphasizing that “it is time to solve this problem, as Libya cannot continue to pay the price.”
Al-Tarabulsi explained, “Unlike regular Libyans and foreigners, migrants do not pay for electricity or taxes because Libya has transitioned from a transit country to a resettlement country.” He stated that Libyan authorities plan to “regulate foreign labor,” which constitutes an effective workforce in this sparsely populated country of 7 million.
He highlighted that with assistance from the International Organization for Migration and its voluntary humanitarian return program, Libya has “repatriated 6,000 migrants” since the beginning of the year and “10,000 in 2023,” according to official figures.
These statements by the Libyan minister come before the “Mediterranean Migration Forum” scheduled for July 17 in Tripoli, aiming to discuss “a new strategy for development projects in departure countries” and thus slow down migrant flows.
The comments follow condemnation by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, of “widespread violations” against migrants and refugees in Libya, along a perilous transit route through the Sahara Desert and the southern Mediterranean.
Türk, in a speech yesterday before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, reported his office is investigating reports of a mass grave on the Libyan-Tunisian border, following the discovery of at least 65 migrant bodies at another location earlier this year.
It’s noted that human trafficking networks have exploited instability in Libya since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, to develop covert networks transporting thousands of migrants from Africa to Europe.
Libya, located in North Africa about 300 kilometers from the Italian coast, is one of the main departure countries for thousands of North African migrants, mostly from Sub-Saharan Africa, who risk their lives to reach Europe by sea.
According to a report by the International Organization for Migration, “the number of migrants who died or were lost during their migration journeys on routes within or from the Middle East and North Africa region in 2023 rose to 4,984, compared to 3,820 in 2022.”
