ADDIS ABABA, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- The African Union (AU), the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) have reiterated commitment to addressing challenges facing stranded migrants and refugees in Libya.
According to a joint statement on Thursday, the Tripartite Taskforce on the Situation of Stranded Migrant and Refugees in Libya met on Wednesday in New York in the margins of the high-level General Debate of the 74th session of the UN General Assembly, and discussed ways of consolidating efforts of support in Libya and possibilities for further joint work.
The Chairperson of the AU Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Filippo Grandi and the IOM Director General, Antonio Vitorino, are among those who deliberated on the issue the meeting.
They deliberated on ways of consolidating cooperation with the Libyan authorities in efforts to scale up assisted voluntary returns and evacuations from Libya, dismantle the existing system of arbitrary arrests and detention of migrants and create alternatives to detention, as well as ensure the rights of migrants and refugees are equally protected.
The members' also reiterated the need to redouble efforts aimed at supporting returning migrants in a more comprehensive manner to reintegrate back into their communities in countries of origin for a sustained return program.
The taskforce has welcomed, in particular the recent initiative by Rwanda, the AU and the UNHCR to establish an emergency transit mechanism in Rwanda that allows for the evacuation of persons in need of international protection out of Libya, as an important gesture of African solidarity.
The taskforce members have agreed that the AU-EU-UN taskforce represents a unique framework for joint, trilateral action that has proven to be successful in achieving results on the ground.
The taskforce was put in place by the AU, the EU and the UN in November 2017.
This allowed the launch of a major assisted voluntary humanitarian return program and evacuation operation, which until now has led to over 48,000 voluntary humanitarian returns of migrants from Libya to their home countries facilitated by IOM and AU Member States, as well as over 4,000 evacuations of refugees by UNHCR from Libya.
