Kurdistan
Six Kurdish men are being returned to Iraq from Libya on Friday. Photo: Screengrab from video submitted to Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Six Kurds detained in Libya while trying to reach Europe are returning home on Friday under arrangements made by Iraq’s diplomatic mission in Tripoli and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). Another 37 were repatriated from Tunisia earlier this week.
The six said they are in good health in a video submitted to Rudaw.
“After our release from prison in Tripoli, we are returning to Kurdistan. Kurdish migrants’ clothing and necessities have been provided by the Iraqi diplomatic mission in Libya,” one of the six said.
Dozens of Kurds have been repatriated from Libya over the past year and a half in cooperation with the Kurdistan Region’s Department of Foreign Relations.
"Six migrants are being returned, and over the past year and a half, 60 migrants have been returned,” Ahmed Sahaf, chargé d'affaires at the Iraqi Embassy in Libya, told Rudaw.
He said he has seen a growing wave of migration and warned that “our youth fall prey to smuggling networks and human trafficking.”
On Monday Iraq’s ambassador to Tunisia, Abdul Hakim al-Qassab, told Rudaw that 37 Kurds were to be repatriated from Tunisia.
Officials and civil society groups in the Kurdistan Region have repeatedly warned against the growing migration trend, pointing to high unemployment and limited economic opportunities as the main driving forces behind the surge.
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