Over 60 Kurdish migrants detained by human traffickers in Libya: Refugee non-profit

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - More than 60 citizens from the Kurdistan Region have been detained in Libya while attempting to reach Europe, a refugee advocacy group told Rudaw on Monday.

Bakr Ali, head of the Association for Repatriated Refugees (ARR), said that "61 migrants” have been detained by a “mafia group” in northeastern Libya’s port city of Benghazi.

According to Ali, the migrants were detained after being “handed over to the mafia group” following a “financial dispute arose between them and their traffickers.”

“They are currently being detained by this [mafia] group,” Ali added.

Rudaw learned that the majority of the detained migrants descend from the Raparin Independent Administration of the Kurdistan Region’s eastern Sulaimani province.

Said Hasan Qader, whose nephew is among the detained, told Rudaw on Monday, “My nephew, Hoger Aso and his friends went to Libya 18 days ago. We have not heard from them in the past nine days.”

The Iraqi embassy in Libya told Rudaw on Thursday it had located 21 Kurdish migrants detained by Libyan authorities and that preparations are underway to return them to the Kurdistan Region.

A day prior, 25 Kurdish migrants from Sulaimani province were repatriated as well. Their return followed weeks of coordination between Kurdish and Iraqi authorities.

The developments also followed a key meeting in late July between Ahmed al-Sahhaf, the chargé d'affaires of the Iraqi embassy in Libya and al-Tahir al-Baour, the acting Libyan foreign minister in Tripoli. The Iraqi foreign ministry then reported that talks chiefly focused on the issue of undocumented migrants, adding that Baghdad’s embassy in Tripoli has already facilitated the repatriation of 60 individuals from Libya.

In early July, Rudaw reported about the rising number of Kurdish youth from the Raparin area opting for the Libya-Italy sea route to reach Europe. The dangerous path has become increasingly popular due to tighter border restrictions and longer wait times along the traditional Turkey-Greece route.

Head of the ARR, Ali, then 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 then said, adding that “a significant portion of that money is paid to Libyan militias who control the coast.”

The Kurdistan Region has seen repeated waves of youth migration over the past decade, largely driven by economic hardship and the search for better opportunities abroad.