Focusing refugee protection efforts solely on Libya would be "a mistake", said Vincent Cochetel, Special Envoy of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), on Wednesday 26 June, at a press conference in Brussels.
For him, it is important to place more emphasis on the countries around Libya. This war-torn country is one of the starting points for many migrants to Europe.
"We need to find solutions around Libya, which also applies, to some extent, to countries south of Morocco. We really need to strengthen safety nets and alternatives to roads leading to these countries", he said, while deploring the lack of a solution for the Libyan case.
Mr Cochetel called for an end to seeing Libya as an intermediary country on the road to Europe. According to him, this is a "myth", because Libya is in fact the destination country for many refugees there. "The Libyan authorities say: we are detaining them because Europe is asking us to detain them. If we do not, they will cross the Mediterranean [...]. This is not the reality", he said.
Considering that the refugee detention system in Libya is "arbitrary", he stressed the importance of providing decent alternatives for those forced to migrate to Libya and access to effective protection.
According to him, if 80% of African refugees find protection in a neighbouring country, it is essential to act for the remaining 20%, who are likely to move, and who are mainly young people (34% of refugees detained in centres in Libya are under 17 years of age and, although the UNHCR does not yet have exact figures, more than 50% are said to be under 25 years of age).
In his view, given the lack of opportunities and protection offered to these young people in countries of first asylum, they have no choice but to migrate to Libya, a country with a high demand for labour. Therefore, in order to prevent such migration, Mr Cochetel believes that activities that "have a stabilising effect on the movement of people" must be identified and strengthened. (Original version in French by Damien Genicot – intern)