36 Kurdish migrants found in Libya, set for repatriation: Official

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Three dozen migrants from the Kurdistan Region who entered Libya illegally have been located and are expected to be returned to Iraq soon, Baghdad’s top diplomat in Tripoli told Rudaw, adding that their repatriation would bring the total number of Iraqis returned from Libya since late 2023 to 388. 

“After high-level coordination over the past week with the relevant Libyan authorities in the Government of National Unity [GNU] in Tripoli, the Iraqi embassy has obtained information regarding the presence of a number of Iraqi migrants,” Ahmed al-Sahhaf, chargé d’affaires of the Iraqi Embassy in Libya, told Rudaw’s Shahyan Tahsin on Wednesday.

Thirty-six of those migrants “are from the Kurdistan Region,” Sahhaf confirmed.

The migrants are currently being held at a shelter and counter-illegal migration center in the Tajoura area, in eastern Tripoli, the Iraqi diplomat said, adding that the embassy is working to complete the procedures needed for their return to Iraq.

The repatriation effort comes amid repeated attempts by young people from the Kurdistan Region to reach Europe for a better life through Libya and across the Mediterranean.

With the latest group, the total number of migrants repatriated from Libya would reach 388, Sahhaf said, noting that 352 had already been returned to Iraq and the Kurdistan Region since December 2023.

The diplomat added that the embassy is “providing services to the young migrants,” including medical and health care, and that their condition is good. He noted that temporary passports had been issued to facilitate their return, with the embassy working to complete remaining procedures “so they can be rapidly repatriated.” 

The Kurdistan Region has seen repeated waves of youth migration over the past decade, largely driven by unemployment, economic hardship and the search for better opportunities abroad.

The Libya-Italy route has become increasingly popular among young people from the Raparin Administration, as tighter restrictions have made the traditional Turkey-Greece route more difficult. The journey across the Mediterranean can be significantly shorter than the route through Greece but carries substantial risks and can cost migrants thousands of dollars.

“Smugglers are always trying to put young people at risk,” Sahhaf told Rudaw, warning that “inside Libya, there are truly major problems; these gangs and groups involved in smuggling are the reason Libya has become a corridor for taking migrants to Europe.”

He added that Baghdad and Tripoli are preparing to revive high-level bilateral ties, with a joint committee set to meet in late September – the first such gathering since 2001 – bringing together the two countries’ foreign ministers.

The meetings are expected to result in the signing of several memoranda of understanding across various sectors, Sahhaf said.