Thursday April 6, 2023
Mogadishu (HOL) - At least nine Somali migrants detained in Libya were repatriated to Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, on Wednesday.
Senior Somali government officials, including the Special Envoy for Children's and Migrants Rights, Ambassador Maryan Yassin Haggi Yusuf, and an official from IOM welcomed the returnees at Aden Adde International Airport.
The Somali government secured the release of its nine nationals with assistance from the UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM).
In December 2022, the Somali government collaborated with the IOM to facilitate the release of 97 Somali migrants, including five women, who were held in Libyan detention camps.
A United Nations report published last year found that migrants in Libya are subjected to systematic human rights violations and abuse, which forces them to accept assisted returns to their countries of origin.
Migrants in Libya are trapped in an untenable situation, forced to choose between returning to the countries they fled due to unsafe or unsustainable conditions or enduring ongoing mistreatment in Libya.
The report says migrants frequently are compelled to accept an assisted return to escape abusive detention conditions, including torture threats, sexual violence, enforced disappearance and extortion.