Humanitarian corridors to evacuate migrants out of Libya needed
June 17, 2024In June 2022, Médecins Sans Frontières called on European and North American governments, among others, to urgently offer protection to migrants trapped in Libya by strengthening existing exit mechanisms (via the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees – UNHCR...
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The newborn Ali and his family are safe, but the future of the other 249 survivors remains uncertain
December 12, 2022Central Mediterranean, 9 December 2022 – At 11:31 on Wednesday 7th December, little *Ali entered the world on board the Geo Barents, a search and rescue vessel chartered by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). His mother, Fatima*, gave birth in the...
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Libya: “I’m terrified that something bad will happen to my son”
November 2, 2022Libyans desperate to flee violence risk the dangerous crossing to Europe Today, November 2, the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on migration between the Italian and Libyan governments will automatically renew for three years. The European Union (EU)-sponsored agreement has seen...
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Left to drown in the Southern European Border: One year of Geo Barents at sea
July 5, 2022One year of operations in the Central Mediterranean have passed by, this time with the Geo Barents - Médecins Sans Frontières’ (MSF) vessel - rescuing 3,138 people and conducting 6,536 medical consultations before disembarking in a place of safety in...
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Mediterranean migration: The father who faced the sea so his sons might go to school
November 26, 2021On 16 November, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières' search and rescue ship, the Geo Barents, responded to a distress call of a small wooden boat floating in the Central Mediterranean Sea. Our teams rescued 99 people; tragically, 10 people died, having been asphyxiated...
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Libya: Medical care resumes in Tripoli detention centres
September 29, 2021Almost three months after suspending medical activities in two detention centres in Tripoli, Libya, following a series of concerning incidents, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has returned to work in these centres, to provide vital medical care for detained migrants...
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Ongoing violence against detained migrants forces MSF to suspend Tripoli detention centre activities
June 24, 2021Following repeated incidents of violence towards refugees and migrants held in two detention centres in Tripoli, Libya, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has announced that we feel obliged to temporarily suspend our activities in Mabani and Abu Salim detention centres. “This is not an...
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Libya: Trading in suffering: detention, exploitation and abuse
December 26, 2019At the end of 2017, horrific images of migrants sold as mere commodities in Libya were travelling around the world. This sparked a global outcry and pushed many leaders, in Europe, in Africa, in Libya, to promise measures to protect...
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Mediterranean migration: Survivors disembark in Italy amidst deadly week in the Mediterranean
November 25, 2019Amsterdam/Marseille - As the 213 people rescued by the Ocean Viking last week disembarked in Messina, Italy, SOS MEDITERRANEE and Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) have repeated their calls to EU governments to cease hindering lifesaving Search and Rescue (SAR) operations, and to ensure a...
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Mediterranean migration: Europe must act now to end preventable deaths in Libya and at sea
August 7, 2019Op-ed by Dr Joanne Liu, International President On 25 July, tragedy once again hit the Mediterranean. An estimated 150 people drowned whilst fleeing Libya. It brings this year’s toll in the Central Mediterranean Sea to at least 576 people. This...
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Out of sight, out of mind: refugees in Libya’s detention centres
July 14, 2019Between 5,000 and 6,000 refugees and migrants are being held arbitrarily in Libya’s detention centres, nominally under the authority of the Tripoli-based Ministry of Interior. Their situation has become even more perilous in recent months with the conflict between the...
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Libya: Time running out for evacuations of trapped refugees in Tripoli amid shooting
April 24, 2019Refugees and migrants in Tripoli’s Qasr Bin Gashir detention centre were shot at and injured, according to evidence reviewed by medical humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). With MSF and other humanitarian agencies warning of the dangers for...
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