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Emergency Trust Fund for Africa
News article28 February 2020

More than 50,000 Migrants Benefited from Voluntary Humanitarian Return Assistance from Libya since 2015

iom_libya_vhr.jpg
IOM, Libya

A charter flight from Mitiga airport in Tripoli to Lagos, Nigeria, yesterday pushed the total number of people assisted through Voluntary Humanitarian Return programme (VHR) to over 50,000 returnees to 44 countries since 2015.

Ensuring the protection of the most vulnerable is at the heart of EU's support in Libya. The Voluntary Humanitarian Return programme is part of the larger EU-IOM Joint Initiative for Migrant Protection and Reintegration which facilitates orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration management through the development of rights-based and development-focused policies and processes on protection and sustainable reintegration. The EU-IOM Joint Initiative is funded by the European Union through the EU Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF). Almost half of the total EUTF funding in Libya (€185 million) goes to protection and assistance to vulnerable migrants, refugees and internally displaced people.

The latest charter is the ninth VHR flight to depart from Libya in 2020. Among the 116 returnees were 55 women, and 15 children, all of whom were living in urban areas.

Prior to their departure, the migrants were provided with medical check-ups, protection screenings, clothing and other necessities. Medical escorts accompanied five returnees with health conditions.
So far in 2020, more than 1,300 migrants received the VHR assistance to leave Libya.
In 2018, IOM Libya launched a VHR hotline to facilitate migrants’ access to quick information and assistance and respond to their questions about the programme.
They are received by IOM staff in their countries of return and provided with further medical check-ups and assistance including transportation allowances and temporary accommodation. All returnees are also eligible for community-based reintegration support to re-establish themselves economically.

For more information, please check IOM's website: https://www.iom.int/news/more-50000-migrants-benefited-voluntary-humani…

Details

Publication date
28 February 2020
Region and Country
Libya

Programmes in the region