Attachments
IOM Vision
IOM’s strategic vision for Libya is to work towards ensuring that migrants, internally displaced persons (IDPs) and other mobile populations, including those affected by conflict and disasters related to natural hazards in Libya, peacefully coexist with local communities in an environment where human rights, dignity and well-being are respected and promoted by a migration governance system that fosters resilience and sustainable development. IOM plans to continue delivering life-saving assistance and improving the resilience of migrant populations and local communities, engaging in targeted interventions to support Libya’s IDPs to access durable solutions, and contributing to the establishment of a comprehensive, evidence-based, and people-centred migration governance system that envisages longer-term approaches to managing migration in Libya.
Context analysis
In Libya, the failure to hold the presidential and parliamentary elections in December 2021 further entrenched institutional and political divisions, and heightened tension between rival political opponents and armed factions. Despite the considerable volatility and concerns about the potential resumption of hostilities, the October 2020 Comprehensive Ceasefire Agreement (CCFA) remains in effect, enabling continued progress toward the resolution of internal displacement and a transition to recovery and reconstruction through a humanitarian-development-peace nexus approach. According to an IOM DTM and Solutions Report (August 2023), as of December 2022, 705,426 (85%) internally displaced persons (IDPs) previously displaced by conflict have returned to their areas of origin, but some remain vulnerable and require additional support to achieve a durable solution. A further 125,802 persons remain internally displaced. Libya's remaining conflict-displaced populations, plus those directly affected by Storm Daniel in September 2023 (more than 44,862 displaced people including 1,715 migrants, 10,000 reported missing, and 4,255 casualties), require continued assistance to meet their humanitarian needs and access solutions pathways.
Due to weak rule of law and lack of good migration governance, international migrants in Libya continue to face challenges and protection concerns, especially in urban settings and, even more so, in detention centres. This is largely linked to their status in the country and the vulnerable situations many find themselves in, including exposure to higher risks of violence, exploitation, arbitrary detention, hazardous living conditions, and abuse at the hands of smugglers and traffickers. A total of 705,746 migrants from over 44 nationalities were identified in the last round of DTM data collection (January - February 2023), including 5,000 in government-operated detention centres across the country. Since January 2021, the number of migrants in the country continued to increase, after it had decreased consistently during the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the INFORM Risk Index, Libya is ranked 40th in the world as most affected by the impact of disasters and climate change including extreme climatic events and in particular droughts, less regular rainfall, flooding, sand and dust storms. The conflict in Libya has left the country extremely vulnerable to climate variability and is likely to increase the impacts on agricultural production and therefore the livelihoods, food and economic security of a significant proportion of the population and vulnerable groups such as migrants. The magnitude of the impact of Storm Daniel on people's lives and the level of infrastructural damage particularly in Derna, has exposed the underlying factors such as the lack of investment in public infrastructures, and the country's limited capacity for disaster preparedness exacerbates the risks and the vulnerabilities of the Libyan population towards climate-related variabilities. Rising temperatures and the lack of an integrated water policy make Libya highly water stressed. This situation is already causing inter-communal competition over water resources. The prospect of water exhaustion threatens the agricultural sector, which employs a quarter of the population in the south. Rising temperatures are also complicating efforts to stabilize Libya's electrical grid as it increases demand and inhibits production. Sustainable water resource management including water rationalization, wastewater treatment and desalination represent urgent investments that may have direct impacts on human mobility and conflict dynamics in the country.
Notwithstanding the shifting priorities in Libya from humanitarian to development-oriented programming, in harmony with the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) and the 2030 Agenda, humanitarian needs persist, disproportionately affecting and aggravating the situation of vulnerable groups, as shown by Storm Daniel.