About: Libya Archives

More than 13,000 migrants have been repatriated from Libya since the beginning of December, the African Union's chief said yesterday (29 January), nearly two months after reports emerged showing refugees being sold as slaves.

The heads of seven southern European states gather in Rome today (10 January) to tackle one of the stubbornest thorns in the EU's side: flows of migrants from war-torn and impoverished countries.

The Dublin regulation, allocating asylum claims to the first port of call on a migrant's journey, is unfit for purpose. The European Parliament has come to a shared position that guarantees fair treatment of refugees and shared responsibility in the EU. Now it's up to member states to do their share, writes Cornelia Ernst.

During an emergency meeting on the situation in Libya, 9 African countries and European member states decided to launch a joint intelligence operation to dismantle the human trafficking networks. EURACTIV France reports.

The United Nations wants Libya's internationally-backed government to agree to shut down 30 detention centers holding 15,000 migrants, most of whom will be sent back to their countries, the head of the IOM said on Tuesday (28 November).

On the eve of the EU-Africa Summit, Gianni Pittella says that European short-termism in migration policy will not address its root causes, and looks at agribusiness to leverage the continent out of poverty - 'but not at any cost'.

Migration will dominate the fifth Summit between Africa and the European Union, which will be held in Abidjan on 29 and 30 November. But Europeans keep dictating the agenda, due to lack of political unity in the African Union.

African leaders are expected to warn Europeans that their way of outsourcing the migration crisis to Libya, in apparent disregard for human rights, risks opening old wounds in the heavy history of the two continents.

The EU said on Thursday (23 November) it is working without "letup" for a durable solution to the plight of migrants in Libya, adding it shared French President Emmanuel Macron's anger over slave markets there.

France on Wednesday (22 November) called an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council over slave-trading in Libya as President Emmanuel Macron blasted the auctioning of Africans as a crime against humanity.

For the first time, the Paris Agreement acknowledged climate change causes migration. At COP23 in Bonn, the big question is how to address it, William Lacy Swing said in an interview with EURACTIV.com.

Three years ago today (31 October), EU pressure on Italy forced the end of one the EU’s most successful humanitarian missions, ‘Mare Nostrum’, a search-and-rescue operation that in just one year brought 130,000 refugees safely to Europe’s shores. Ben Hayes and Frank Barat look back on three years since the end of Operation Mare Nostrum.

An armed group forced Libya’s massive el-Sharara oilfield to close late on Sunday (1 October), shutting off production of more than 230,000 barrels per day (bpd), the head of the state oil company said.

Italy, in a fresh bid to tackle a migration influx that has become a political headache, sketched proposals yesterday (28 September) to resettle around the world a thousand vulnerable migrants who are stranded in Libya.

A powerful armed group, known for smuggling people from Libya, is seeking legitimacy and state security jobs from the Tripoli government in exchange for stopping migrant boats from leaving the coast of Sabratha for Italy, a senior group member said.

The EU is bribing Libya to prevent desperate young men and women reaching the safety of our shores, while member states open wide their doors to corrupt foreign politicians who can buy ‘golden visas’, writes Ana Gomes.

The Czech Republic has not relocated a refugee for more than a year and remains in breach of its legal obligations. The Czech position remains the same despite the ruling of the Court of Justice supporting the Commission's migrant relocation policy. EURACTIV.cz reports.

EU aid to Libya to stop migrants entering Europe is fuelling a Libyan detention network that thrives on kidnapping, torture and extortion, a leading medical charity charged yesterday (7 September).

The EU is pressing on with controversial plans to tackle the migration crisis in the face of mounting criticism from NGOs and UN experts. EURACTIV France reports.

Italy's interior minister said on Tuesday (15 August) he saw light at the end of the tunnel for curbing migrant flows from Libya after a slowdown in arrivals across the Mediterranean in recent months.

The Italian government yesterday (13 August) welcomed Libya's decision to bar foreign vessels from a stretch of water off its coast, a move that has prompted almost all international charities to halt migrant search and rescue operations in the area.

The European Council on Tuesday (25 July) extended the EU’s naval mission in the Mediterranean, despite concerns that Operation Sophia has not been effective in breaking up people-smuggling networks.

The European Union yesterday (17 July) adopted limits on the export of inflatable boats and outboard motors to Libya in a bid to make it harder for smugglers to send migrants to Europe.

EXCLUSIVE/ Energy guru Igor Yusufov shared  his views with EURACTIV.com on the first bilateral meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US President Donald Trump at the G20 summit, as well as on the global gas and oil business.