Coronavirus: 118 Ghanaians stranded in Libya repatriated to their country by IOM

23 Août 2020

Tripoli, Libya, August 23 (Infosplusgabon) - One hundred and eighteen Ghanaian migrants stranded in Libya due to coronavirus (COVID-19 restrictions were repatriated Thursday by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Among those repatriated were seven women, three children and two babies, IOM said in a statement. According to the statement, "all of them underwent medical screening by IOM before departure and received personal protective equipment such as masks, gloves and hand sanitizers, as well as psychosocial assistance.

The IOM gave the assurance that it would continue to provide support for 14 days in Ghana and, later, in reintegration assistance.

"The Covid-19 has added a whole new layer of complexity to the Voluntary Repatriation Programme (VRP), a vital lifeline for migrants wishing to return home since flights began in 2015," said programme manager Ashraf Hassan.

In the face of massive mobility restrictions due to the coronavirus and the intensifying conflict in Libya, IOM has received many new requests for VHR assistance, the document said.

It noted that more than 2,300 migrants had registered for voluntary return to their countries since March.

"We continue to operate a hotline for migrants and to work closely with embassies, Libyan authorities and government entities in countries of origin to help people return home and rebuild their lives," Hassan said.

He said "IOM Libya will strive to maintain the VHR and protection-based reintegration assistance as a viable option for all stranded migrants”.

“In the first quarter of 2020, IOM's VHR programme helped 1,466 stranded migrants return home from Libya,” the statement said, recalling that nearly 9,800 migrants returned to 34 countries of origin in Africa and Asia last year through the same programme.

The conflict and the COVID-19 have severely affected the livelihoods of migrants in Libya, IOM said, citing an assessment conducted through the organization's Movement Monitoring Matrix.

It indicated that migrants in 93 per cent of the locations assessed said they had been affected by movement restrictions, mainly through loss of employment and more than a third were reported to be food insecure.

The charter flight was made possible with funding from the European Union through the Joint EU-IOM Initiative for the Protection and Reintegration of Migrants, the first comprehensive programme of its kind to save lives, protect and assist migrants along major migration routes in Africa, the statement said.

FIN/ INFOSPLUSGABON/KHJ/GABON2020

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