Shafaq News..33 Kurdistan Region migrants to return from Libya

Shafaq News- Erbil

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) completed
arrangements to bring home 33 Kurdistan Region residents from Libya next week,
the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.

The ministry and the Department of Foreign Relations were
tasked with locating, rescuing, and returning the group after reports emerged
that they had gone missing in Libya. According to the ministry, the group
endured difficult conditions in Libya, with some spending eight months in
prison and repeatedly facing threats to their lives.

The KRG urged young people and their families to avoid
irregular migration routes to Western countries, warning that such journeys put
their lives at risk and could expose them to legal consequences for violating
other countries’ laws.

The ministry said the KRG has so far rescued and returned
302 irregular migrants to the Kurdistan Region.

International Organization for Migration data show that more
than 221,000 people have been affected by human trafficking, with Iraq serving
as both a source and destination country.

In the first quarter of 2026, Iraq’s Interior Ministry
dismantled 36 organized crime networks involved in human trafficking, migrant
smuggling and organ trafficking.

Read more: 2.3K lives lost: Iraq’s grim toll of human trafficking