![Oil-rich Libya has emerged as a major conduit for people from Africa and the Middle East fleeing wars and poverty and hoping to reach Europe [File: Mahmud Turkia/AFP]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/000_RW9FW.jpg?resize=770%2C513)
TRIPOLI, Nov 3 (NNN-Xinhua) — The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that some 180 illegal immigrants have been rescued off Libyan coast.
“Some 180 refugees and migrants were returned to Libya by the Libyan Coast Guard and disembarked at Tripoli commercial port,” the UNHCR Libya tweeted.
“UNHCR and IRC are providing them with medical assistance, food & water,” it said, adding that many women and children were on the rescued list.
Ever since the fall of the late leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya has become a preferred departure point for illegal immigrants who attempt to cross the Mediterranean towards European shores.
“Libya is not a safe port for refugees,” the UNHCR said.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), 10,398 illegal immigrants have been rescued and returned to Libya so far in 2020, while the number in 2019 stood at 9,225.
Thousands of illegal immigrants, who were either rescued at sea or arrested by the Libyan authorities, are detained in overcrowded reception centers in Libya, despite repeated international calls to close those centers.
Separately, IOM on Monday said it has returned 154 migrants from Libya to their countries of origin.
“Last week, 154 Bangladeshi migrants returned home through VHR (the Voluntary Humanitarian Return) charter flight from Benghazi Benina airport” located in eastern Libya, the IOM said.
“Aboard the flight were also seven Indian migrants whom the IOM assisted with the same charter to reach New Delhi,” it added.
The flight was made possible with the support of the European Union Emergency Trust Fund, and close coordination with the embassies of Bangladesh and India in Tripoli, the IOM said.
The VHR program, run by the IOM, arranges the return of illegal immigrants stranded in Libya to their homeland.
The IOM said that more than 4,800 stranded migrants in Libya are registered with the program for returning to their countries of origin amid COVID-19 restrictions.
The state of insecurity and chaos created by the ouster and killing of Libya’s leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 has made the country a preferred point of departure for illegal immigrants hoping to cross the Mediterranean towards Europe.
According to the IOM, more than 10,000 migrants have been rescued and returned to Libya so far in 2020. — NNN-XINHUA
