In February and March 2011, Tunisians were managing the fallout from their own revolution. Governmental institutions were on hold, and security and policing were absent in south-eastern Tunisia, the area closest to Libya’s western border. Informal but highly effective community…
The countries neighbouring Libya were not in a position to provide more than temporary refuge for many people who had experienced multiple displacement from their countries of origin and previous countries of asylum. “I am very happy but also fearful,”…
By post-conflict standards, Libya has relatively few internally displaced persons (IDPs) but many of these, including several entire displaced communities, face the prospect of protracted internal displacement. For households that remain displaced within their own towns due to the wartime…
In the heady days of the Arab Spring in 2011, even as protesters in Tahrir Square took up a chant proclaiming “We are all Egyptian”, many refugees and migrants in Egypt were facing increased xenophobia, overt racism and violence. The…
The migration dimension of the Libya crisis has engaged with a growing debate over the crisis-migration nexus. A ‘migration crisis’ – that is, a disaster creating large-scale population movements that are complex in terms of the persons affected and the…
The dilemmas of assisting people moving in ‘mixed flows’ have long been debated, including whether and how to define categories of people on the move, how to access and ensure assistance and protection for the most vulnerable, and how to…
Boat arrivals from North Africa over the past decade have carried thousands of North Africans and others to European shores, including asylum seekers fleeing persecution or serious harm, and people moving irregularly for other reasons. Annual arrivals from 2000-2008 had…
While the reception capacity of the Italian asylum system has always been very limited, the situation has deteriorated since the uprisings in North Africa. The protection offered continues to be inspired by the original rationale of very short-term assistance. Settlement…
At the time of writing, de facto authority continues to lie with the armed brigades who physically control numerous sites, facilities and installations. For example, of the more than 20 migrant detention centres which existed in Libya before the revolution,…
The legacy of almost half a century of authoritarianism and isolation has left the new Libya vulnerable to inheriting the previous regime’s human rights failings. The international rights of migrants in general, and of refugees in particular, were largely ignored…