Italy's foreign ministry on Wednesday published the following statement in English by foreign minister Angelino Alfano concerning an agreement on refugees in transit in Libya.
"I am very satisfied that Italy, thanks to the diplomatic action of our Embassy in Tripoli, has facilitated reaching an agreement for UNHCR activities in Libya in favour of the categories of migrants that are most vulnerable and most in need of international protection before being relocated to the Third Countries that have expressed their willingness to host them," Alfano said.
"This will step up their relocation procedures thanks to the services of an ad hoc gathering and departure office managed with the Libyan Ministry of the Interior’s Department to Combat Illegal Immigration, providing for humanitarian assistance and assuring the safety of migrants and handling the procedures for their departure," he went on.
"For years we have been saying that the aim is to make a selection of those in need of international protection on the other side of the Mediterranean, while guaranteeing full respect for human rights. The agreement with the UNHCR marks a very significant step in the right direction.”
More than 17,000 refugees and migrants are currently detained in Libya, and many more were held by traffickers under the protection of prominent militias, UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi told the United Nations Security Council at a briefing on Tuesday.
UNHCR has successfully secured the release of almost 1,000 asylum seekers and refugees this year and is seeking 40,000 additional resettlement places in transit and asylum countries along central Mediterranean routes, Grandi said.
