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
Syria says detained senior Daesh jihadist in Damascus
- The arrest came less than two weeks after a December 13 attack killed two US soldiers
DAMASCUS: Syrian authorities have arrested a senior Daesh group official in the Damascus region in a joint operation with a US-led international coalition, a security official said on Wednesday.
Taha Al-Zoubi, also known as Abu Omar Tabiya, an Daesh leader in Damascus, was detained with several of his men, General Ahmad Al-Dalati was reported as saying by state news agency SANA.
The arrest came less than two weeks after a December 13 attack killed two US soldiers and a US civilian that Washington said was carried out by a lone Daesh gunman in central Syria’s Palmyra.
“Our specialized units, in cooperation with the General Intelligence Directorate and and International Coalition forces, carried out a precise security operation targeting” an Daesh hideout, Dalati said.
On December 20, a Syria monitor said that five Daesh members were killed in US strikes in retaliation for the December 13 attack.
It was the first such incident since the overthrow of longtime ruler Bashar Assad in December last year, and Syrian authorities said the perpetrator was a security forces member who was due to be fired for his “extremist Islamist ideas.”
