On Wednesday 12 April, the European Commission announced that the special EU trust fund for Africa has adopted a €90 million programme for the protection of migrants and the improvement of migrant management in Libya.
A sum of €48 million from this €90 million will go to "protection". The funding will be used for the assistance and protection of migrants and refugees at disembarkation points, in detention centres and urban settings (especially for health and access to food,) and for services of basic need. It will also fund voluntary humanitarian returns and the reintegration of migrants into their country of origin – returns that the Commission estimates at 15,000. "Safe spaces" will be created with this funding, as alternatives to detention. In addition, the money will help migrants on the move in the form of information on the feasible options (including returns) and the risks of irregular migration. It will also go towards food and non-food items. In addition, the funding will help gather and analyse data on mixed migration flows, routes and trends through a "Displacement Tracking Mechanism", which will help better understand migration dynamics.
The remaining €42 million will be given to socio-economic development at the municipal level and to local governance, by strengthening the capacities of local authorities to provide services and favour development and stability at local level. This will happen through the provision of quality services for Libyans and access to these services, for example in terms of health, education or rehabilitation of local infrastructure, and through local economic development and access to job opportunities, "including through safe income for migrants and host communities in the south where smuggling and trafficking provide major revenues", a Commission press release states.
The €90 million programme will be implemented by five partners: the International Organisation for Migration (IOM); the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR); the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF); and the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ). (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)