Since the evacuation of its international staff in mid-2014 and increasingly limited access by national staff due to insecurity, UNHCR has progressively moved to emergency remote management of its operations in Libya and continues its engagement in mixed migration issues. The aim of UNHCR’s response is centred on providing immediate life-saving assistance upon disembarkation and in detention centres, seeking alternatives to detention for refugees and asylum-seekers intercepted or rescued by the authorities; and informing individuals of available protection services and the risks of sea travel. Outreach is conducted to communities of refugees and asylum-seekers in urban settings, to inform about available community-based protection mechanisms and ensure that basic services and assistance is provided to the most vulnerable.
Despite ongoing security challenges in Libya necessitating the continuation of remote management modalities from Tunisia, UNHCR is one of few agencies that continues to provide protection and deliver services to refugees and asylum seekers in Libya. The total number of registered population of concern to UNHCR is around 36,787 refugees and asylum seekers. Syrian nationals compose the majority of the registered caseload (around 51 per cent) while the remainder is composed of a mix of Sub-Saharan African and Arab nationalities, including Palestinians. Through partners, UNHCR operates two Community Development Centres (CDCs) in Tripoli and Benghazi where asylum seekers and refugees receive multi-purpose cash grants and primary health care. In addition, the CDCs are responsible for receiving new applications for asylum and referring claimants to UNHCR. UNHCR operates nine hotlines to receive queries from people of concern, including one hotline dedicated to detention and another one to rescue at sea. While activities related to direct provision of services, outreach, detention and protection monitoring are implemented through partners, UNHCR directly implements various protection activities from Libya and remotely from Tunisia, including: 1. Capacity building on refugee law and UNHCR’s mandate (total seven capacity-building activities in 2015), 2. Advocacy to expand protection space and prevent refoulement of detained people of concern (650 detained people of concern were released following UNHCR’s intervention in 2015), 3. Provision and renewal of documentation for people of concern to ensure access to basic services and prevention of refoulement or indefinite detention 4. Registration, RSD and access to durable solutions, 5. Provision of counselling through the nine telephone hotlines (676 counselling sessions provided), 6. Partner management, coordination and monitoring.
With regard to the situation of people rescued or intercepted on land or at sea and held in detention in Libya, UNHCR aims to strengthen life-saving activities and the current humanitarian response at points of disembarkation through a partner, while promoting longer term capacity-building and awareness-raising initiatives, in line with international standards and principles.
On coordination, UNHCR and IOM co-chair a detention task force, which meets on bi-weekly basis and reports under the refugee migrant response plan, with the aim of coordinating a harmonized response plan, design strategy, advocacy and information management plan with regards to the humanitarian response and intervention for the most vulnerable detained refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in DCIM operated detention/holding facilities.