TRIPOLI: The United National Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that more than 1,000 illegal migrants were rescued in five separate operations and returned to Libya. The UNHCR and International Rescue Committee provided the migrants with food, water and medicine before handing them over to the Libyan authorities.

The International Rescue Committee, a non-profit organisation in the Libyan capital Tripoli.

So far in 2021, a total of 10,154 illegal immigrants have been rescued off the Libyan coast, while 173 died and 459 others went missing on the central Mediterranean route. Rescued migrants end up inside overcrowded reception centres across Libya, despite repeated international calls to close them.

Libya has been plagued by insecurity and turmoil since the fall of the late leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, making it a preferred point of departure for illegal immigrants wanting to cross the Mediterranean Sea toward European shores.

The IOM Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) identified and located 348,372 internally displaced persons in Libya. Many of the migrants traveling from Libya are exploited by human smugglers, who facilitate the journeys in exchange for money. There are widespread reports torture and abuse of migrants at the hands of smugglers. 

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