2016
Working environment
In 2016, Libya continued to experience political instability and armed conflict, which triggered internal displacement. Benghazi, Derna, Sabha, Tripoli, Ubari and Zintan are among the major cities affected.
Libya remained the main gateway for mixed movements towards Italy. More than 90 per cent of the 180,000 sea arrivals to Italy in 2016 departed from Libya.
Humanitarian access continues to be a challenge. UNHCR has been operating remotely from Tunis, Tunisia since 2014 but is maintaining its presence inside Libya through national staff and partners. Short missions to Libya resumed in 2016.
Population trends
- 697,600 people of concern in Libya, including approximately 241,000 internally displaced people (IDPs), 356,000 IDP returnees and an estimated 100,000 refugees and asylum-seekers
- Of the estimated 100,000 refugees and asylum-seekers inside Libya, 38,670 are registered with UNHCR. They are mainly from the Syrian Arab Republic (50%), Palestine (15%), Eritrea (12%), Iraq (8%), Somalia (6%) and Sudan (6%)
- UNHCR resumed registration in December 2015 and registered 1,900 asylum-seekers in 2016
Achievements and impact
- UNHCR resumed registration and continued protection monitoring in Libya through its three community development centres (providing information, registration, counselling, health care and in-kind/cash assistance for refugees) home visits and phone hotlines.
- UNHCR maintained access to 15 detention centres, managed by the Department for Combatting Illegal Migration, to identify vulnerable cases, advocate for their release, and provide life-saving assistance.
- UNHCR established a presence in 5 disembarkation points and provided core-relief items and emergency health care to people intercepted/rescued at sea and disembarked in Libya.
Unmet needs
- Registration capacity was limited. Libyan authorities are supportive of UNHCR’s efforts to register persons from seven countries considered as “refugee producing” but there might be some other individuals in need of international protection.
- UNHCR activities in the eastern part of the country were hampered by new bureaucratic impediments and security conditions. Moreover, the expansion of UNHCR activities in the south was hampered by insecurity and logistical constraints. The distribution of cash assistance was affected by the liquidity crisis in Libya, as well as local regulations adopted by authorities.
- There is a need to develop practical arrangements for the reception of refugees and asylum seekers, in particular for children and vulnerable women, and to move away from the current detention paradigm.