ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Three Kurdish youth who were detained in Belarus for nearly eight months will return to the Kurdistan Region on Wednesday, an Iraqi lawmaker told Rudaw, amid ongoing efforts to repatriate migrants stranded abroad.
Muthana Amin, a member of the Iraqi parliament’s foreign relations committee, said the three young men will return to the Kurdistan Region through Erbil International Airport at 3 pm local time on Wednesday.
They had been “detained in Belarus for nearly eight months” while attempting to migrate to Western Europe, he said.
Amin further noted that another group of 25 migrants from the Kurdistan Region, who were rescued in Libya, is expected to return home next Tuesday. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is covering the cost of their travel.
This group, originally from the Raparin Independent Administration of the Kurdistan Region’s eastern Sulaimani province, was rescued in August. Ahmed al-Sahhaf, the chargé d’affaires at the Iraqi embassy in Libya, confirmed to Rudaw in late August that arrangements for their return had been finalized.
In early July, Rudaw reported on the rising number of young people from the Raparin area using the Libya-Italy sea route to reach Europe. The dangerous path has grown increasingly popular due to tighter border restrictions and longer wait times along the traditional Turkey-Greece route.
Ranj Pishdari, a Europe-based migrant rights activist, then stated that “most migrants are going through Libya,” and “from there, they head across the Mediterranean to Italy. It’s become the preferred route despite the risks.”
Meanwhile, Bakr Ali, head of the Association of Returned Refugees (ARR), explained that the Libya-Italy crossing is much shorter, taking around eight hours compared to up to 72 hours from Greece. “Smugglers charge nearly $17,000 per person,” he told Rudaw, “and a significant portion of that money is paid to Libyan militias who control the coast.”
According to Rudaw’s sources, one of the most influential smugglers in Libya is a Kurd from Raparin, known by the initials H.K. Although based in Europe, he has temporarily relocated to Libya to personally oversee the smuggling operations.
In August, six other Kurdish migrants were also repatriated from Libya to the Kurdistan Region, which has witnessed repeated waves of youth migration over the past decade, largely driven by economic hardship and the pursuit of better opportunities abroad.
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