On Monday, August 22, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, appealed for the safety of refugees in Libya.
He appealed for all parties involved in the conflict to ensure that the thousands of refugees currently trapped in Tripoli and other areas are “properly protected from harm,” according to a press release from the UNHCR.
“Thousands of third-country nationals in Libya will be feeling great fear and uncertainty at this time,” he said. “We have seen at earlier stages in this crisis that such people, Africans especially, can be particularly vulnerable to hostility or acts of vengeance. It is crucial that humanitarian law prevails through these climactic moments and that foreigners – including refugees and migrant workers – are being fully and properly protected from harm.”
The call for safety comes after hundreds of thousands of migrant and refugees, as well as citizens, flee war-torn cities in Libya. As shots are fired and snipers take aim in the capital, many are desperately seeking escape. Refugees in the area already left their home countries for many of the same reasons once before, and must do again.
Many migrant workers have already fled the country to Niger. The International Organization for Migration and the Red Cross have set up emergency camps in the city of Dirkou. The IOM estimates that around 200,000 West African workers have returned from Libya.
The conflict is taking much longer than expected. NATO has been present for five months now, and will remain until the situation is resolved and Muammar Qaddafi is out. It is nearing an end, however, as rebel forces have captured the capital.
“The Qaddafi regime is clearly crumbling,” NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said today. “Now is the time for all threats against civilians to stop, as the United Nations Security Council demanded.”
