About 120 migrants have been evacuated from Libya to Rwanda in the first of such flight of the year.
Men, women, and children, the youngest of whom was less than a year old, were amongst the 120 migrants who were repatriated.
The majority had been residing in the city of Tripoli, Libya’s capital, and others had been unlawfully detained, some for months.
The group, who were evacuated on Tuesday, will spend the night in Gashora, where the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) provides shelter, food, and medical treatment to another 269 refugees and asylum seekers.
“These evacuation flights out of Libya continue to provide hope and safety to refugees and asylum seekers trapped in Libya,” said Djamal Zamoum, the UNHCR’s acting chief of mission in Libya.
Because of the conditions they are forced to suffer, detainees in several Libyan migrant centers have previously documented routine torture, rape, hunger, and the spread of diseases like tuberculosis.
Amnesty International, a campaigning organisation, described the situation as “horrific” and “inhuman.”
In response, Libyan authorities announced the closure of three huge detention centres in Misrata, Tajoura, and Khoms in 2019.
Since signing an agreement with the UNHCR and the African Union in mid-2019, Rwanda has taken in over 900 asylum seekers.
For years, Libya has served as a transit point for thousands of individuals attempting to reach Europe. The vast majority will attempt to cross the Mediterranean Sea, but many will fail.
Since the beginning of this year, more than 215 migrants have been reported dead or missing in the central Mediterranean, according to the International Organisation for Migration.
