Tripoli, March 5 : The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said it has deported 145 illegal migrants voluntarily from Libya to their home country Mali.
“Amid Covid-19, stranded migrants in Libya continued to register for IOM’s Voluntary Humanitarian Return (VHR) program. This week, 72 women and 73 men from Mali returned home through a VHR charter flight from Tripoli,” the UN agency said in a statement on Thursday.
“Supported by an IOM medical escort, there were nine migrants with medical conditions on board. All migrants were tested for Covid-19 before departure.
“This flight was made possible with the support of the European Union Trust Fund,” Xinhua news agency quoted the IOM statement as saying.
The VHR program, run by the IOM, arranges the return of illegal migrants stranded in Libya to their homeland.
According to the IOM, 11,891 illegal migrants were rescued off the Libyan coast in 2020, compared with 9,225 in 2019.
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