ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Ten Kurdish migrants from the Kurdistan Region's eastern Sulaimani province have reportedly gone missing in Libya after attempting to reach Europe, their families told Rudaw on Wednesday, as relatives urged the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to locate them and secure their return.
Ismail Mohammed, the brother of one of the missing men, told Rudaw's Arez Khalid that his “24-year-old brother left for Libya with several friends on July 13, arriving two days later. He stayed there for a few days and we remained in contact, but on August 5, they said they were departing for Europe. Since then, they have been missing and we do not know where they are," Mohammed said.
Seven of the missing are from the Pishdar and Bitwen areas in Sulaimani's Raparin administration, while the remaining three are from the province’s Chamchamal district. “They are aged between 16 and 27,” according to Mohammed.
Moreover, eyewitnesses in Libya have informed the families that the ten men were detained by Libyan authorities and are being held in Tripoli, Mohammed said, noting, “We inquired about their condition, and according to eyewitnesses, these ten youths were arrested by the Libyan government.”
Driven by unemployment, economic hardship, and the search for better opportunities, young people from the Kurdistan Region continue to undertake dangerous journeys to Europe via Libya and across the Mediterranean.
According to the Directorate of Migration, Displaced, and Crisis Response in the Raparin administration, more than 500 migrants have been repatriated from Libya to the Kurdistan Region since 2015, the majority of them from Raparin.
The case has surfaced just two days after 33 young Kurdish migrants detained in Libya were repatriated to the Kurdistan Region on Monday.
Iraq's Chargé d'Affaires in Libya, Ahmed al-Sahhaf, told Rudaw on Monday that the 33 migrants were all young men aged between 16 and 27, with three others still awaiting completion of their paperwork before returning. The migrants had traveled to Libya hoping to reach Italy through irregular migration routes, each reportedly paying a smuggler $19,000 for the journey.
"We call on the Kurdistan Regional Government to take action for their release and repatriation. Our information indicates they are being held in Tripoli. Just as the 33 were brought back, we want these ten reunited with their families as well,” Mohammed said, warning that “smugglers continue to use these youths to lure others.”
