nlp-thedeep/humsetbias huggingface dataset:
The movement of refugees and migrants across the Sahara desert and the Mediterranean Sea towards Europe continues to have a devastating toll on human lives. As of 26 October, at least 2,824 people have died or gone missing in the attempt to cross to Europe by sea in 2017. Many others are thought to have died on their way across the desert in the hands of smugglers and traffickers. Since the beginning of the conflict, there has been a lack of oversight and institutional capacity in managing migration, with no system of checking or regularising stays, including through the issuance of legal documentation. In order to live, work, and have access to basic services, migrants must have necessary documentation. Whilst the majority of migrants and refugees enter Libya irregularly, some migrants enter Libya in possession of appropriate travel documents, but they are unable to renew these documents when they expire.
After six years of conflict, the humanitarian situation in Libya continues to deteriorate, with increasing reports of grave protection and human rights violations. In 2017, an estimated 1.6 million people were directly affected by ongoing conflict in populated areas, including 1.1 million people 378,000 of them children who require life saving humanitarian assistance and protection
Some 1.35 million children were vaccinated against polio and measles, achieving universal coverage for all children under 6 years. More than 83,000 people, including 37,350 children, benefitted from improved access to safe drinking water and gender appropriate sanitation facilities. Some 23,000 crisis affected school aged children gained access to non formal education and recreational activities and received essential learning materials and supplies. School rehabilitation work helped 6,000 children in conflict affected areas of Benghazi, Sabha and Ubari return to learning. Some 27,000 children participated in structured and sustained child protection and psychosocial support services in UNICEF supported child friendly spaces. UNICEF advocacy efforts and engagement with Zintan municipality led to the release of 125 children from local armed groups. These children also benefitted from specialized services.
In the first quarter of 2017, more than 10,000 children have attended community based psycho social support services in Child Friendly Spaces or in schools. This support allows them to return to a normal routine, by offering access to structured activities, games and informal and non formal education
In the same period, 5,000 children attended non formal education programmes, which consist of catch up classes to support out of school children to reintegrate into formal schooling, or remedial classes, which assist students to continue their formal education.
Despite the urgent need to ensure that all children in Libya are protected from the two life threatening diseases that are polio and measles, no nationwide immunization campaign has been conducted yet, thus increasing the risk of outbreaks.
Between January and March 2017, a total of 10,401 children  ( 4,557 girls, 5,844 boys )  participated in psychosocial and recreational activities organized in Child Friendly Spaces supported by UNICEF and its partners.
As part of capacity development initiatives targeting over 300 child protection actors, five day training sessions on psychosocial services were also conducted from January to March, and engaged over 403 participants  ( 270 women and 133 men ) . Furthermore, UNICEF conducted a training in Tripoli for 39 child protection actors on restorative justice and children in contact with the law, and another one on the same topics in Misrata for 34 participants from the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Social Affairs and civil society organisations.
As a result of UNICEF's advocacy, the Municipal Council of Al Zintan committed to support the release, rehabilitation and reintegration of children involved in the armed conflict, in addition to the establishment of a rehabilitation centre that would serve adults who had been involved as children in armed conflicts. In 2017, UNICEF and its Libyan NGO partner Essafa Centre for Mental Health started a programme in Al Zintan to support the new centre. During the first quarter of 2017, already 100 child victims of Gender Based Violence and other grave violations received specialised psychosocial support
UNICEF in partnership with the National Center for Disease Control  ( NCDC ) , conducted water quality analyses in 145 schools across Libya. The results and recommendations of the assessment will enable WASH actors to take targeted action to improve the water quality in schools
To enhance the capacities of the health centres and facilities for handling vaccines, UNICEF procured in 2016 and delivered at the beginning of 2017, 550 refrigerators and 550 voltage regulators for distribution and installation in health facilities across Libya, with priority given to areas affected by the conflict and hosting large number of displaced people in the East, West and South.
IOM's latest Displacement Tracking Matrix1 identified in February 2017 a total of 294,436 Internally Displaced Persons  ( IDPs ) , 196,852 returnees, and 256,690 migrants by the end of 2016. UNHCR2 reported a total number of registered refugees and asylum seekers of 40,259 by the end of March 2017, while the total number of refugees in Libya was estimated at 100,0003. In January 2017 alone and despite winter conditions at sea, 4,463 people left Libya to Italy, 40 children reportedly died.
According to UNHCR in the three first months of the year, 24,292 persons arrived to Italy by the sea, which represents a 29% increase compared to the same period in 20164. 1,480migrants, refugees and asylum seekers were rescued off the Libyan coast in March 2017 in 13 separate incidents, bringing the total number of people rescued in 2017 to 3,6825.
26,639 children  ( 13,390 girls ) , including 300 children with disabilities, enrolled in catch up and remedial education classes in conflict affected and underserved areas such as Benghazi, Sirte and Southern part of Libya.
Through the installation and rehabilitation of latrines, drainage networks and fumigation campaigns, a total of 100,450 people gained access to improved sanitation facilities.
The polio vaccination campaigns reached universal coverage with around 1,53 million children aged 0 6 years vaccinated while, 721,488 children aged 3 6 years received Measles, Mumps and Rubella  ( MMR )  vaccines in 201
As the conflict in Libya entered its sixth year, the humanitarian situation is still showing no signs of improvement in some parts of the country. The latest Humanitarian Needs Overview 2018, estimates that 1,1 million people of whom 378,000 are children and 453,000 are women require life saving humanitarian assistance and protection. 2017 witnessed periodic eruption of localized conflicts in various parts of Libya, such as Benghazi, Derna, Sirte and Sabratha which triggered displacements and affected Internally Displaced Persons and returnees. Disruption of access to quality basic social services, water, sanitation, health, protection and education as well as electricity and water cuts, which lasted for a few days in some incidents, have affected the living conditions of vulnerable people.
Libya remains the “gatekeeper' for the migration crisis in the region, IOM1 estimates that there are 621,706 migrants in Libya, 9 percent of whom are minors  ( out of these minors, 59 percent were reported as accompanied and 41 percent as unaccompanied ) . UNHCR had registered 45,129 refugees and asylum seekers as per December 20172, many of these people are reported to be victims of discrimination, arbitrary arrest and detention.
UNICEF LCO works in coordination with the Libyan Humanitarian Country Team  ( HCT )  leading WASH and Education sectors and the Child Protection sub sector under protection. In December 2017, UNICEF LCO established an Interagency Nutrition Working Group in Libya within the health sector coordination group led by WHO. The nutrition working group leads the coordination between the different actors and provides nutrition support. With the assistance of UNICEF LCO, the annual workplans and Terms of Reference  ( ToR )  of both WASH and education sectors were finalized and agreed with national counterparts, which reflect jointly agreed areas and activities to be implemented in 2018.
Many cases of sexual and Gender Based Violence  ( GBV ) , physical abuse, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances and ill treatments were reported especially against vulnerable children
A recent study by the National Center for Disease Control  ( NCDC )  on Violence against Children  ( VAC )  in 2017 among middle school students in Libya, showed a high prevalence of violence against children at home and in school with 92 per cent of male and 88 per cent female students having experienced at least some form of violence
In 2017, as part of capacity development programme for child protection, a total of 872 people  ( 730 female )  were trained including 853 social workers, specialists, and teachers. 19 judges and police officers, and 155 community leaders and military commanders, also participated in an awareness campaign on restorative justice and protection of child victim of crime and violence.
The commencement of the school year in 2017 was delayed due to the teachers' strike, with term not resuming until to the end of October.
During 2017, a total of 20,510 children  ( 7,739 girls )  benefited from the establishment of six mobile classes and from the rehabilitation of 24 schools in Benghazi, Sirte, Sebha, Tripoli and Ubari cities.
Through UNICEF LCO national partners, a total of 26,639 students  ( 13,390 female ) , 300 of whom are children with disabilities, enrolled in catch up and remedial education classes in conflict affected and underserved areas in places such as Benghazi, Sirte and in eight areas in the South of Libya. In Benghazi and Sirte, 78,868 children  ( 39,667 female )  received essential learning materials and supplies.
As part of UNICEF's support to teachers' development, a total of 212 teachers and master trainers  ( 129 female )  were trained on the areas of child rights, special education needs, management of overcrowded classrooms, inclusive education, and child centred teaching and learning leading to concrete steps in laying the foundation for sector reform development
In 2017, UNICEF LCO completed in cooperation with the National Centre for Disease Control  ( NCDC )  and Ministry of Education an assessment for the water quality in schools. The assessment indicated that 67 percent of the surveyed schools  ( 140 schools )  have limited access to drinking water supply service and 95,8 percent have limited access to sanitation services while 4,2 percent have no sanitation services. The average number of students to a functional toilet is 71, while the Ministry of Education standards are one toilet for every 25 students.
During 2017, the health sector witnessed a deterioration in health care facilities, with 20 per cent destroyed due to the ongoing conflict. There exists also an inability to transfer funding to the Ministry of Health, a lack of qualified staff and poor access to essential medicines and equipment.
During 2017, the UNICEF and partners provided 30,394 children  ( 16,607 girls )  with community and school based psychosocial support in the East, West and South of Libya while 1,393 children survivors of Gender based Violence  ( 726 girls, 667 boys )  received specialized services.
The polio vaccination campaigns reached universal coverage with around 1,53 million children aged 0 6 years vaccinated while, 721,488 children aged 3 6 years received Measles, Mumps and Rubella  ( MMR )  vaccines in 2017.
Foreign embassies fled the country, the national airport went up in flames, and since then foreign airlines have stayed away from Libya, as have most foreigners. Even the UN judges the city unsafe and mostly works from neighbouring Tunisia.
"The fact that it has increased so much in this past year or two is also directly related to the deteriorating economic situation in Libya. It's a country that is increasingly on the verge of an economic crisis," Gazzini explains.
Normal Libyans face cash shortages and pay check delays, and the government doesn't have much money left in its reserves to spend. So by default, the self proclaimed security forces that are in charge of monitoring migrants have themselves become smugglers and racketeers, thereby exerting violence on migrants to obtain money that is no longer available in the country.
For the millions forced to flee their homes every year because of conflict, natural disasters, or other kinds of crisis, crossing a border changes everything. One's status is immediately elevated from that of an internally displaced person, or IDP, to that of a refugee.
It's true that for Tripoli, abnormal is becoming normal. The GNA has failed to get a grip on public services. The city endures power cuts that last for days, because generating plants break down or because fuel is seized by militias.
Loss of power in turn means loss of water from pumping stations. Besides, the city's drinking water depends on a long pipeline from the desert interior, the so called Great Man Made River, which is now in dire need of maintenance.
According to the World Health Organization, “Libya's health care system has deteriorated to the point of collapse.' There are chronic medicine shortages in hospitals, since government payment systems have broken down. There is not enough water to drink.
Social media has become a bush telegraph in the Libyan capital Tripoli, used by anxious citizens to warn each other of militia violence and how to get around the endless shortages as the economy crumbles.
Libya's most acute shortages are water. In late November, a militia shut off valves south of Tripoli to the Great Man Made River, an irrigation pipe that pumps water to the city from huge underground reservoirs in the Sahara. Without rivers or desalination plants, the situation in the capital quickly grew dire, with residents scouring shops for water bottles and helping each other to draw water from ancient wells.
In Tripoli, some militias back the GNA but others back a rival Salvation Government  ( also based in Tripoli ) , and armed clashes continue between the two groups.
Power cuts too are frequent, some lasting many days, particularly in the summer when air conditioning sees the power system short out. Some of the outages are the result of fuel oil being taken by militias, with the National Oil Corporation saying much of Libya's imported petrol is re exported by militias who smuggle it to Europe. But Libya's power stations were worn out before the revolution, and shortages of equipment and spare parts have left the country lacking 37 percent of the necessary generating power.
Hospitals are also in a bad way, with the UN backed Government of National Accord in Tripoli unable or unwilling to pay for more help. “Hospitals have no medicines or supplies, people have to take them with them for operations, the health service has collapsed!' one Tripoli resident recently tweeted.
Complicating the need to find scarce medicines, petrol, or water bottles, money to buy these basics is also in short supply. Few banks have cash, and those that do typically restrict Libyans to withdrawals of 300 Libyan Dinars  ( around $200 )  a day. Officials blame the shortages on cash hoarding because businesses and individuals no longer put money in banks, fearing they'll be unable to get it out again.
Migrants are regularly extorted for ransom, subject to sexual abuse, and – it now seems – some are sold as slaves.
Refugees and migrants in Libya are estimated to be around 700,000 to one million,1 and are among the most vulnerable groups in the context of the ongoing humanitarian crisis.2 Many are held in detention centres with a number of studies pointing to their inadequate living conditions.3 On the other hand, very limited information is available on the protection needs and coping strategies of refugees and migrants living outside detention facilities in Libya.
Most reported coping strategies to challenges in accessing decent housing: 1. Changing neighbourhood to find cheaper accommodation 2. Living in shared rooms 3. Looking for an employment providing accommodation
The European governments have taken such initiatives without creating safeguards to ensure the protection and human rights of refugees and migrants. Despite current efforts by UN agencies to provide assistance to refugees and migrants at 12 disembarkation points in Libya, the reality remains that those intercepted at sea and sent to Libya are transferred to detention centres where they are held in cruel, inhuman and degrading conditions, with no prospect of judicial review, and exposed to systematic, serious violations and abuses. Many centres remain out of reach to international agencies and where granted, access is on an ad hoc basis.
The use of aid, trade and other leverage to push transit countries, including some where widespread and systematic human rights violations against refugees and migrants have been documented, to implement stricter border control measures, in the absence of adequate human rights guarantees, risks trapping thousands of refugees and migrants in countries where they are exposed to serious human rights violations and abuses and where they have no access to effective protection.
Due to the inherent level of risk involved in all sea journeys organized by smugglers in the central Mediterranean – using utterly unseaworthy, overcrowded boats with no safety features, little fuel, no trained personnel and, often, no means to call for help – the increase in the number of crossings, especially since 2013, has led to hundreds of shipwrecks and other incidents at sea, causing thousands of deaths each year.
Refugees and migrants detained in DCIM centres have described being held in degrading conditions, within ill equipped and overcrowded structures. They are deprived of food and water, and exposed to undignified treatment, including strip searches for any hidden amounts of money to be confiscated.
In March 2017, after the end of the fighting in Sirte, a court in Misratah ordered the release of 24 Eritrean women who had been detained. The group of women had been arrested and prosecuted in Misratah on charges of being affiliated to the armed group calling itself the Islamic State armed group, of which they were acquitted by the court. The fact that the women were of Eritrean nationality, one of the seven nationalities to which the Libyan authorities extend protection from refoulement on a de facto basis, was likely to be a contributing factor.
As indicated above, it is estimated that up to 20,000 refugees and migrants are currently being held in detention centres run by the DCIM across the country. Based on testimony received through interviews conducted by Amnesty International, this chapter describes how some DCIM guards arbitrarily detain those women, men and children in horrific conditions in these centres and are themselves directly involved in torturing and otherwise ill treating refugees and migrants, very often in order to extort a ransom from them or their families in exchange for their release from indefinite arbitrary detention.
According to IOM, as of August September 2017, there were over 416,556 migrants in Libya, but some estimates put the real number much higher. 63 Over 44,306 people were registered as refugees or asylum  seekers with UNHCR as of November 2017, but the actual number of such individuals is again likely to be much higher, given UNHCR's limited mandate in the country. 64 For decades, thousands of refugees and migrants have flowed into Libya each year, fleeing war and persecution or extreme poverty and hunger, seeking refuge or to improve their livelihood. Once they have arrived in Libya, they have had to confront a reality remarkably different from their dreams and expectations.
Two major shipwrecks in the space of one week in April 2015, claiming over 1,200 lives, finally brought home to European leaders that the decision to end Mare Nostrum had been wrong and that Triton was an inadequate response to the situation in the central Mediterranean.
Over the past decade, tens of thousands of refugees and migrants who have spent time in Libya have been exposed to arbitrary detention, torture and other ill treatment, including sexual violence, extortion, and forced labour and other exploitative labour practices including in DCIM detention centres.
In Libya the suffering of refugees and migrants starts with the domestic legislation: vague provisions that criminalize any irregular entry, stay or exit are compounded by the lack of domestic asylum legislation and the absence of protection for victims of trafficking. As a consequence, thousands are stuck in Libya, vulnerable to arrest at any time and at the mercy of armed groups, militias and criminal gangs.
Refugees and migrants are routinely exposed to human rights violations committed by Libyan officials and security forces and abuses at the hands of armed groups and criminal gangs, who are often working in close co operation and to mutual financial advantage. They suffer torture and other ill treatment and arbitrary detention in appalling conditions, extortion, forced labour and killings at the hands of Libyan officials, militias and smugglers. In a lawless country, refugees and migrants have become a resource to be exploited – a commodity around which an entire industry has grown, as the shocking footage of a migrants being sold, aired in November 2017 highlighted.
Throughout 2017, Italy has increasingly engaged in co operation with local authorities and tribal leaders and informal groups in Libya, not all under the control of the Government of National Accord, thereby sidestepping the government, to halt the flow of refugees and migrants to Europe.
In these detention centres, women, men and children are subjected to unlawful and indefinite detention, without access to any judicial oversight or remedy. 69 They are held in horrific conditions which amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment under international law due to profound overcrowding, lack of access to medical care and inadequate nutrition. And they are systematically exposed to torture and other ill treatment, including sexual violence and severe beatings, and extortion. They are also at times killed or left to die after being tortured, exploited, abused, or sold on for forced labour and other forms of exploitation to other militias, armed groups or criminal gangs.
There are 16 disembarkation points in western Libya. While UNHCR and IOM are each present at points to provide emergency assistance, they are not permitted to conduct official registration and have no power to avoid the immediate transfer of those disembarked to DCIM centres.
From 2002 onwards there was a sharp increase in the number of refugees and migrants setting off from Libya to cross the Mediterranean sea in an attempt to reach Europe, a trend which continued in the following years.
In the last few years, hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants have braved the journey across Africa to Libya. Some have always intended to remain there, others have done so with the dream of reaching Europe. Nearly half a million have made the crossing in the last three years; over 10,000 have died in the attempt. A further half a million, maybe more, are currently stranded in Libya.
Hundreds of thousands of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers are trapped by a web of complicities in which collusion between Libyan authorities and traffickers or smugglers, on the one hand, and between European governments and Libyan authorities and other actors, on the other, expose them to an array of human rights violations and abuses.
Individuals arbitrarily detained in DCIM centres are held in deplorable conditions. It is estimated that DCIM detention centres currently hold about 20,000 individuals. UNHCR had previously estimated that DCIM detention centres held anywhere between 4,000 to 8,000 individuals, but an additional 15,000 were transferred to existing centres after being assisted by international organizations following the clashes that took place in the city of Sabratha in September 2017.
However, refugees and migrants are placed outside judicial procedures by being held in DCIM detention centres indefinitely and without the ability to legally challenge their detention or seek other legal remedies. In addition, as a result of the criminalization of illegal entry, stay and exit, victims of human rights violations in Libyan detention centres have no viable means to seek redress. Approaching a police station once released would simply place the migrant or refugee in immediate danger of being re arrested.
Back in 2000 such feelings had led to attacks on refugees and migrants in the cities of Zawiya and Tripoli that left dozens of sub Saharan Africans killed.
Amnesty International's research indicates that very often guards perpetrate torture and other ill treatment on refugees and migrants detained in both DCIM centres and other places of captivity with the aim of extorting money from them or their relatives.
At a press conference in Tripoli on 10 August 2017, spokespersons for the Libyan naval authorities announced the establishment of a Libyan search and rescue zone and stated that foreign vessels, and in particular NGO vessels, would not be allowed to enter the zone without prior authorization from the Libyan authorities.
The number of refugees and migrants stranded in Libya, their constant exposure to human rights violations and abuses, the deteriorating security conditions in the country, the impossibility for them to enjoy the protection of the law, and the lack of safe and regular pathways enabling them to reach safety and protection in other countries are all factors that have pushed hundreds of thousands to embark on the dangerous crossing of the central Mediterranean in the hope of finding safety and protection in Europe.
Refugees and migrants are subjected to widespread and systematic abuse across Libya – inflicted with total impunity. They are constantly at risk of being unlawfully killed, tortured, otherwise ill treated and exploited, and cannot avail themselves of the protection of the law or seek international protection. Thousands are detained in centres managed by the Libyan Ministry of Interior; thousands more are held in places of captivity run by militias and criminal gangs. In both cases, people are unlawfully detained in inhuman conditions, and systematically exposed to torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, including sexual violence, often to extort a ransom to be paid by relatives to those guarding the detention centres. In fact, Libyan authorities who should be responsible for protecting the rights of refugees and migrants – and in particular DCIM and LCG officials – are widely subjecting them to human rights violations, including torture and other ill treatment, often operating in collusion with traffickers and smugglers.
The protest that closed Sharara has also threatened to halt production in the neighbouring Elephant field – further jeopardising the NOC's push to restore output to pre 2011 levels.
Libya's National Oil Corp declared force majeure on operations at the field on Tuesday after production was shut down by demonstrators who included members of the same force charged with guarding the country's vital oil installations. The field has a production capacity of around 310,000 bpd.
The blast took place during maintenance works for electricity lines in Benghazi's western district of Al Qawarishah, Tariq al Kharraz, a spokesman for East Libya based Interior Ministry, told Anadolu Agency. A fourth worker was injured in the explosion. Last month, a Libyan minor was killed in a similar landmine explosion in the city.
Most displaced families were staying with relatives in private accommodation, however approximately 180 families temporarily gathered in schools and collective shelters in the Tripoli area. Priority needs in schools included food, NFIs, health interventions and sanitation.
Output was recently 1.278 million barrels a day and can be increased by “hundreds of thousands' of barrels a day with improved security, Mustafa Sanallah said in response to questions. Still, continued instability in the country with Africa's largest oil reserves means the NOC may have to revise its 2022 production target of more than 2 million barrels a day, he said.
Through its local partner LibAid, UNHCR completed the distribution of winter items and school bags to internally displaced persons and returnees in Benghazi. Assistance in the form of heaters, blankets and winter clothes was distributed to some 2,000 individuals  ( 462 families ) . Since the start of UNHCR's winterization campaign in Benghazi, 8,209 individuals  ( 1,570 families )  were provided with non food items while 1,756 children received school bags.
Nearly 20% of all households across Libya had an unmet need in WASH, with the highest proportions of these households in Murzuq and Alkufra  ( nearly 50% ) . Nearly one third of returnee households were found to have an unmet need in WASH. One fifth of HHs in Tripoli faced challenges in accessing sufficient drinking water, as the conflict periodically disrupts the city's water supply from the Great Man Made River.
As of 30 November 2018, the Libyan Coast Guard rescued/intercepted a total of 14,795 people in different locations along the Libyan coast. 546 individuals were rescued/intercepted in November, 351 in October and 713 in September. Since 1 January 2018, Libyan local authorities have recovered 99 bodies of people who perished while attempting to cross the Mediterranean towards Europe.
The Interior Minister of the Government of National Accord  ( GNA )  Fathi Bashagha has told BBC Arabic that there are armed groups and forces, which are registered under the ministry's command, who are implementing the agendas of outsiders and thus are dominating the decision making in political and economic fields in Tripoli.
A string of security incidents has hobbled Libya's oil production despite repeated attempts to restore flows in the politically divided nation. Output at the country's biggest oil field, Sharara, declined in July after an armed group kidnapped four of the staff. Libya bounced back the following month, helping OPEC's crude production rise to a nine month high, according to the International Energy Agency.
More children are reportedly being recruited to fight, putting them in immediate danger. At least one child was killed as a result,' said Geert Cappelaere, the UN agency's Middle East and North Africa director.
While clashes have halted, shortages of food, water and electricity continue to be among the challenges facing children and families. Schools are being used to shelter displaced families, which is likely to delay the start of the school year planned for 3 October.
By the end of last week, the Sharara field was producing around 250,000 b/d. However, output is expected to have dropped over the last two days because of security concerns. In September, Sharara was producing around 300,000 b/d.
UNHCR supported more than 90,900 internally displaced persons  ( IDPs )  and returnees. Throughout the year, UNHCR and its partner LibAid distributed non food items, such as blankets, kitchen sets and hygiene kits, to more than 68,240 IDPs and returnees in over 14 cities, including Tripoli, Benghazi, Sirt, Misrata, Sabha and Ubari. In addition, UNHCR and its partners ACTED and DRC provided multipurpose cash assistance to over 22,650 individuals, who used the funds to cover basic needs, including food, hygiene items, and other necessities.
In December, the Gathering and Departure Facility  ( GDF )  for vulnerable refugees and asylum seekers opened in Tripoli. The GDF is the first of its kind in the country and is intended to bring vulnerable refugees to a safe environment while solutions, including resettlement, family reunification, or evacuation to emergency facilities are identified. The facility is managed by UNHCR, LibAid and the Ministry of Interior and represents one of a range of measures offering viable alternatives to detention in Libya. Since its opening, 220 refugees departed from the GDF to the Emergency Transit Mechanism  ( ETM )  in Niger and to Italy.
In 2018, the Libyan Coast Guard  ( LCG )  rescued/intercepted 14,949 refugees and migrants at sea  ( 10,493 men, 2,177 women and 1,423 children )  during 120 sea operations. Throughout the year, the majority of refugees and migrants were disembarked at the Tripoli Naval Base  ( 62 per cent )  while others disembarked at Al Khums port  ( 19 per cent )  and Azzawya  ( 11 per cent ) . The top three nationalities were Sudanese  ( 14 per cent )  Nigerians  ( 12 per cent )  and Eritreans  ( 10 per cent ) . Over 700 individuals lost their lives or were declared missing at sea while attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea. With its partner International Medical Corps  ( IMC ) , UNHCR provided 9,768 non food item  ( NFI )  sets and 1,604 medical consultations at disembarkation points.
Resettlement processing of refugees registered in Niger  ( Group 4 )  Since 1 September 2017, 979 individuals have been submitted for resettlement to 6 resettlement States  ( Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Sweden and Switzerland ) . A total of 266 individuals have departed on resettlement from Niger to Canada, Finland, France, Sweden and Switzerland. A total of 140 individuals have been accepted for resettlement and are pending departure from Niger to Belgium, Canada, France and Sweden. A total of 350 individuals have been submitted for resettlement and are pending interview or decision by a resettlement State in Niger.
Medicines supplies have suffered a major setback in Libya due to the persistent crisis, leading to endemic shortages. Achieving universal health coverage requires access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines. According to the SARA survey  ( 2017 )  findings, there is a general low availability of essential medicines in hospitals  ( 41% ) , and extremely low in PHC facilities  ( 10% )  and medical stores  ( 13% ) .
The attackers began their assault with a car bomb, damaging vehicles and buildings, and then opened fire on the ministry, a security source said. Two managed to get inside and blow themselves up. The other was killed by ministry guards.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Thursday that in coordination with the authorities in Libya and Egypt, it had facilitated the repatriation of 12 unaccompanied Egyptian minors to Cairo.
During their regular prison and detention centre monitoring visits from 2012 to April 2018, UNSMIL regularly observed discriminatory practices against Sub Saharan African detainees in terms of conditions of detention and, occasionally, concerning their treatment, compared to Arab and Libyan detainees. For example, in some facilities, Arab detainees had beds and/or mattresses, while Sub Saharan African detainees slept on the floor on blankets. Further, in some facilities, Arab and Libyan detainees had more frequent and regular access to prison yards.
Sub Saharan African migrants and refugees often face racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia in Libya, amid successive governments' failure to tackle the issue. As in other parts of the world, Sub Saharan Africans are sometimes blamed for the spread of diseases and rise in criminal activities. Migrant and refugee women, particularly from non Muslim countries such as Nigeria, are often perceived as having “loose' sexual mores. Libyan media rarely portrays the positive contributions made by migrants to Libyan society or acknowledge Libya's reliance on foreign labour. To date, a commonly used word to refer to black people in Libya is “abidat', which translates to “slaves', although some Libyans deny the racist undertones of the word.
In 27% of the 558 communities hosting migrants, migrant children reportedly do not have access to education. In another 40% of the muhallas, only few migrant children have access to education.
However, a Humanity & Inclusion weapons clearance team has been scouring the city since early November and is systematically destroying or neutralizing explosives. As the weapons have been removed, families are beginning to return to Tawergha.
Tunis, 19/12/2018   IOM, the UN Migration Agency, in collaboration with the Libyan Ministry of Health, and with support from the UK Department of International development  ( DFID ) , is organizing a three day training workshop on Sensitive and Responsive Health Services and Basic Infection Prevention and Control targeting frontline health care professionals from Bani Walid. The training, which takes place from 17 until 19 December, aims at improving the participants' understanding on migration health, and the concept and implementation of migration responsive health services, as well as recognizing the importance of infection prevention to ensure early reporting of cases and prompt responses. This workshop follows another one held last week from 11 until 13 December covering the same topic.
Libya's Al Khoms port authorities seized on Tuesday a container laden with weapons and ammunition coming from Turkey. The authorities in the port said the container that is filled with arms and ammunition is the second of its kind that gets seized in Al Khoms. Al Khoms authorities said the container had guns and ammunition, rifles and other types of ammo all made in Turkey.
Libyansecurity forces forcibly removed 79 migrants and asylum seekers on November 20, 2018 from the Panama flagged cargo shipNivinin the port of Misrata in Libya, after they refused to leave the ship for 10 days, Human Rights Watch said today. Security forcesreportedly used force and tear gas. An unknown number of people were taken to hospital, and others were taken to the al Karareem detention center in Misrata.
Resettlement processing of evacuees from Libya in Niger  ( Group 2 + 3 )  Since 1 September 2017, 1,542 individuals have been submitted for resettlement to 11 resettlement States  ( Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States ) . A total of 930 individuals have departed on resettlement from Niger to Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. A total of 248 individuals have been accepted for resettlement and are pending departure from Niger to Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. A total of 245 individuals have been submitted for resettlement and are pending interview or decision by a resettlement country in Niger.
Resettlement processing of refugees registered in Niger  ( Group 4 )  Since 1 September 2017, 979 individuals have been submitted for resettlement to 6 resettlement States  ( Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Sweden and Switzerland ) . A total of 217 individuals have departed on resettlement from Niger to Canada, Finland, France, Sweden and Switzerland. A total of 170 individuals have been accepted for resettlement and are pending departure from Niger to Belgium, Canada, France and Sweden. A total of 368 individuals have been submitted for resettlement and are pending interview or decision by a resettlement State in Niger.
Total resettlement processing in Libya and Niger  ( Groups 1, 2, 3, 4 )  Since 1 September 2017, a total of 3,559 individuals have been submitted for resettlement from Libya and Niger to 12 resettlement States. A total of 1,400 individuals have departed on resettlement from Libya and Niger. A total of 536 individuals have been accepted for resettlement and are pending departure from Libya and Niger. A total of 1,302 individuals have been submitted for resettlement and are pending interview or decision by a resettlement State in Libya or Niger.
The port closure for more than two weeks in June July blocked 850,000 bpd of Libya's oil  ( nearly all Libyan production )  from being exported from four ports. As a result, Libya's oil production slumped to just 673,000 bpd in July, as per OPEC's secondary sources. In August, production recovered to an average 950,000 bpd, while Libya's production in September further jumped by 103,000 bpd to average 1.053 million bpd, OPEC said in its October Monthly Oil Market Report.
UNHCR continues to register persons in need of international protection. As of 30 November, 57,664 refugees and asylum seekers are registered with UNHCR in Libya. The majority of individuals registered are Syrian  ( 23,750 individuals ) , Sudanese  ( 10,777 individuals )  and Eritrean  ( 7,748 individuals )  nationals. In November, UNHCR registered 812 refugees and asylum seekers, mainly from Eritrea  ( 546 individuals ) , Somalia  ( 102 individuals )  and Sudan  ( 65 individuals ) . UNHCR continues to register all persons of concern in detention centres in and around Tripoli. Since the start of the campaign in October, UNHCR has registered 2,796 individuals in detention centres.
UNHCR continues to resettle vulnerable refugees out of Libya. Since September 2017, UNHCR submitted 994 cases for resettlement to third countries. A total of 114 individuals have departed on resettlement directly from Libya to Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden.
In November, UNHCR supported 8,600 internally displaced persons  ( IDP )  with multipurpose cash assistance. UNHCR through its partners ACTED and DRC provided cash assistance to 770 IDP families in Tripoli, 700 families in Benghazi and 95 families in Sabha. The cash is used by IDP families to cover basic needs, including food, hygiene items, fuel, health and other costs.
Turkey's state aid agency has donated 16 tons of food aid for displaced people in the Libyan capital Tripoli, the agency said on Sunday.
Libya's oil production climbed to the highest since 2013 and can go even higher if security at the nation's energy facilities can be improved, according to the chairman of the state run National Oil Corporation.
So far in 2018, UNHCR and its partners have implemented 92 quick impact projects  ( QIPs )  with the active participation of host communities and IDPs, and in consultation with national and local authorities. QIPs are small, rapidly implemented projects intended to help create conditions for peaceful coexistence between those displaced and their hosting communities, and to strengthen the resilience of these communities. During the week, UNHCR supported schools in 12 municipalities with sport kits for the students and chairs to accommodate additional students in the classrooms. In addition, UNHCR provided generators to eleven municipalities  ( Abu  Salem, Awal, Ghat, Tripoli, Khoms, Ziliten, Kufra, Sirt, Tarhouna, Azzawya and Sabha )  to ensure that hospitals and health clinics are not impacted by the continuous power cuts
On 20 November, the 79 refugees and migrants who remained on board the commercial vessel Nivin since 10 November were forced to disembark in Libya. Five individuals were injured during the forced disembarkation and transferred to a public hospital. Refugees and migrants on board included Ethiopian, Eritrean, South Sudanese, Sudanese, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Somali nationals. Since the onset of the impasse in Misrata port, UNHCR provided humanitarian assistance on a daily basis to alleviate the suffering of the people on board and strongly advocated for a peaceful solution to the situation, including with refugees and migrants themselves.
On 14 November, 14 vulnerable people left the Nivin and were transferred to official detention centres. The rest of the group continued to refuse to disembark in Libya, for fear of having to face arbitrary detention and other dangers they have already experienced first hand during their stay in the country.
Ministry of Health in collaboration with WHO Office for Libya has organized the first cascade training to share and disseminate the knowledge related to introduction and implementation of family practice with other cadres of health workers who manages and support the six selected Primary Health Care facilities in West, South and East Regions of Libya. The training was facilitated by internal facilitators which were selected during the Training of Trainers  ( ToT )  Workshop which was held in the month of July of 2018.
GBV partners in Libya continued to provide case management and psychosocial support to GBV survivors and other vulnerable groups during this reporting period while focusing on the return areas where information dissemination sessions, safety audits and dignity kits distribution were prioritized.
The refugees and migrants, including a number of children, were found as they attempted to reach Europe by boat across the Mediterranean. Amnesty International understands that Italian and Maltese maritime authorities were involved in the operation, carried out by the merchant ship Nivin. Flying a Panamanian flag, the Nivin picked the group up in the central Mediterranean on 8 November and returned them to Libya, in what appears to be a clear breach of international law, given that Libya cannot be considered a safe place to disembark.
WHO in partnership with Ministry of Health of Libya, National Center for Disease Control  ( NCDC )  of Libya and UNICEF inaugurated the first activity of a National Measles and Polio Vaccination campaign. The nation wide campaign will target 1,965,250 children aged between 6 months and 15 years. Children of Libyans and non Libyans including those in detentions centers and internally displaced settlements will be targeted equally. In July, 2018 the Libyan Ministry of Health declared an outbreak of measles, since then the virus has been circulating across the districts of the country.
As of 14 November 2018, 12 states have committed a total of 3,886 resettlement places for the Libya Niger situation. Out of these pledges, 1,090 are being used for resettlement processing directly out of Libya, while 2,796 places are allocated to evacuees from Libya and refugees registered in Niger. Since 1 September 2017, 980 individuals have been submitted for resettlement directly from Libya, of whom 114 individuals have already departed the country. UNHCR continues to advocate for additional resettlement spaces and other legal pathways to be made available for persons of concern in Libya.
As of 14 November, the Libyan Coast Guard  ( LCG )  has rescued/intercepted 14,595 refugees and migrants  ( 10,184 men, 2,147 women and 1,408 children )  at sea. On 10 November, a commercial vessel reached the port of Misrata  ( 187 km east of Tripoli )  carrying 95 refugees and migrants who refused to disembark the boat. The individuals on board comprise of Ethiopian, Eritrean, South Sudanese, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Somali nationals. UNHCR is closely following up on the situation of the 14 individuals who have already disembarked and ensuring the necessary assistance is provided and screening is conducted for solutions. Since the onset, UNHCR has advocated for a peaceful resolution of the situation and provided food, water and core relief items  ( CRIs )  to alleviate the suffering of individuals onboard the vessel.
UNHCR continued its school bag campaign to support refugees and displaced children by distributing 3,554 school bags in Sabha, Talaae Alnaser, Tarhuna, Misrata, Tawerga school, Al Fallah IDP camp in Tripoli and in Tajoura. Due to the liquidity crisis in Libya, the cost of school materials has significantly increased over the past years. Through this campaign, UNHCR aims to mitigate the financial impact that the start of the school year has on refugee and IDP families and thereby secure affected children's school attendance.
Libya– The UN Migration Agency, IOM, resumed its Voluntary Humanitarian Return Programme  ( VHR )  in Libya's southern city of Sebha yesterday  ( 08/11 ) . VHR provides support to stranded migrants wishing to return to their home countries. In recent months, IOM has been expanding its outreach in the south through multiple field missions to make VHR operations possible.