TRIPOLI: Around 36,000 child migrants, including 14,000 who are unaccompanied, need help in Libya, a major transit hub for migrants trying to reach Europe, UN agencies said Monday.
Out of about 400,000 migrants in Libya, nine percent are children, the UN children’s agency UNICEF and the International Organization for Migration said in a joint statement.
UNICEF and the IOM described the number of unaccompanied children among those needing assistance as shocking.
So far this year, nearly 15,000 unaccompanied children have reached Italy after crossing the Mediterranean, they said.
But 400 died trying to make the treacherous journey, and many more were abused, exploited and detained.
In response, the two agencies said they had joined forces and agreed an “action plan” focusing on child protection, education, water, sanitation and health.
“This collaboration will ensure that child rights are put at the heart of all assistance in Libya,” a statement said.
In 2018, the IOM aims to repatriate 30,000 migrants as part of a voluntary return program, including many children, and around 15,000 have been sent back this year.
“We will be able to collectively work to ensure that all children, no matter their status, are able to gain an education, be protected and receive the basic services they deserve,” said Abdel-Rahman Ghandour, UNICEF special representative in Libya.
Last month, US television network CNN broadcast video footage appearing to show migrants being sold as slaves near the Libyan capital Tripoli.
UN: 36,000 child migrants need aid in Libya
UN: 36,000 child migrants need aid in Libya
Sudan’s prime minister takes his peace plan to the UN, but US urges humanitarian truce now
- Sudan’s prime minister is proposing a wide-ranging peace initiative to end a nearly 1,000-day war with a rival paramilitary force
- It seems unlikely the RSF would support the proposal, which would essentially give government forces a victory and take away their military power
UNITED NATIONS: Sudan’s prime minister on Monday proposed a wide-ranging peace initiative to end a nearly 1,000-day war with a rival paramilitary force, but the United States urged both sides to accept the Trump administration’s call for an immediate humanitarian truce.
Kamil Idris, who heads Sudan’s transitional civilian government, told the Security Council his plan calls for a ceasefire monitored by the United Nations, African Union and Arab League, and the withdrawal of paramilitary forces from all areas they occupy, their placement in supervised camps and their disarmament.
Sudan plunged into chaos in April 2023 when a power struggle between the military and the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces exploded into open fighting, with widespread mass killings and rapes, and ethnically motivated violence. This has amounted to war crimes and crimes against humanity, according to the UN and international rights groups.
It seemed highly unlikely the RSF would support the prime minister’s proposal, which would essentially give government forces a victory and take away their military power.
In an indirect reference to the truce supported by the US and key mediators Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, known as the Quad, Idris stressed to the UN Security Council that the government’s proposal is “homemade — not imposed on us.”
In early November, the Rapid Support Forces agreed to a humanitarian truce. At that time, a Sudanese military official told The Associated Press the army welcomed the Quad’s proposal but would only agree to a truce when the RSF completely withdraws from civilian areas and gives up their weapons — key provisions in the plan Idris put forward on Monday.
Idris said unless the paramilitary forces were confined to camps, a truce had “no chance for success.” He challenged the 15 members of the Security Council to back his proposal.
“This initiative can mark the moment when Sudan steps back from the edge and the international community — You! You! — stood on the right side of history,” the Sudanese prime minister said. He said the council should “be remembered not as a witness to collapse, but as a partner in recovery.”
US deputy ambassador Jeffrey Bartos, who spoke to the council before Idris, said the Trump administration has offered a humanitarian truce as a way forward and “We urge both belligerents to accept this plan without preconditions immediately.”
Bartos said the Trump administration strongly condemns the horrific violence across Darfur and the Kordofan region — and the atrocities committed by both the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, who must be held accountable.
UAE Ambassador Mohamed Abushahab, a member of the Quad, said there is an immediate opportunity to implement the humanitarian truce and get aid to Sudanese civilians in desperate need.
“Lessons of history and present realities make it clear that unilateral efforts by either of the warring parties are not sustainable and will only prolong the war,” he warned.
Abushahab said a humanitarian truce must be followed by a permanent ceasefire “and a pathway toward civilian rule independent of the warring parties.”
UN Assistant Secretary-General for political affairs Khaled Khiari reflected escalating council concerns about the Sudan war, which has been fueled by the continuing supply of increasingly sophisticated weapons.
He criticized unnamed countries that refuse to stop supplying weapons, and both government and paramilitary forces for remaining unwilling to compromise or de-escalate.
“While they were able to stop fighting to preserve oil revenues, they have so far failed to do the same to protect their population,” Khiari said. “The backers of both sides must use their influence to help stop the slaughter, not to cause further devastation.”
The devastating war in Sudan has killed more than 40,000 people according to UN figures, but aid groups say the true number could be many times higher. The conflict has created the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with over 14 million people displaced, disease outbreaks and famine spreading in parts of the country.
