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Libya

Libya: Humanitarian Access Snapshot (January - June 2022)

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BUREAUCRATIC AND ADMINISTRATIVE IMPEDIMENTS (BAIs)

During the first half of 2022, partners reported a decrease in the number of BAIs impacting humanitarian operations in Libya. While January started with serious challenges for INGOs to obtain visas and maintain operational presence in the country, internal changes in the official procedures to request visas, and successful engagements of the humanitarian community with authorities, succeeded in addressing most of the delays. The graph on the right is a good depiction of the reduction of BAIs from January to April, where most visa-related issues were resolved.

On the other hand, partners have consistently been affected by strict financial restrictions during the reporting period. Since February 2022, an old circular from 2016 aimed at regulating cash flows in the country was recirculated to most banks imposing a limit on cash withdrawals for humanitarian organizations to 215 USD per day. This circular, and the related inability of partners to access cash, has impacted the implementation of aid projects across the country and lowered the acceptance of several humanitarian organizations, leading in some cases to violence and harassment against humanitarian workers as payments were delayed. Financial restrictions have also burdened the ability of humanitarian organizations to transfer money into the country to complete their payments. Anti-terrorism and anti-money laundering laws in Libya, as well as in EU countries, often lead to unpredictable delays in completing transfers. It is estimated that around 1M USD of humanitarian funds has been pending transactions for the past few months. In addition, Libyan banks’ “Know Your Customer” regulations often delay activities that involve payments to beneficiaries, being lengthy and challenging to complete by international organizations.

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