The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) agency has rejected claims it was “starving” migrants out of a detention centre in Libya but confirmed it would cease providing food at the facility next year.
The UNHCR said it would "phase out" catering at the Gathering and Departure Facility (GDF) by the end of the year, in a statement issued late on Thursday after the The Guardian published an aid worker's claim that the refugee agency was trying to force migrants to leave by "deliberately withholding aid to put people under pressure".
The aid worker added that hundreds of those at the detention centre in Tripoli “have apparently been without food for weeks”.
“They’re just trying to starve them to motivate them to leave,” the aid worker said.
Responding to the allegation, UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi said: “I find that accusation offensive”.
"I don't know where you read that report. Us, starving refugees and migrants in Libya? When my colleagues, day in, day out, risk their lives to access people that are often detained by criminal gangs?" he said.
The refugee agency said it was instead boosting its assistance to migrants living in urban areas in Libya because the situation at the centre had become "unsustainable".
The facility, nicknamed the Hotel GDF by its inhabitants, opened a year ago as a transit centre for the most vulnerable refugees and asylum-seekers, who were destined to be transferred out of Libya.
UNHCR said it had become "severely overcrowded" since July when hundreds of people arrived after the detention centre at Tajoura was hit by an airstrike.
Around 400 people, including 100 children, had come from the Abu Salim detention centre in the south of the country, and another 200 from urban areas, meaning that the centre with a capacity to host 600 people was now hosting nearly double that number.
The refugee agency said the overcrowding was hampering its "ability to evacuate the most acutely vulnerable refugees, for whom solutions outside of Libya have been found, out of detention centres and to safety".
UNHCR's chief of mission for Libya, Jean-Paul Cavalieri, stressed in the statement that the agency welcomed that asylum-seekers and refugees had been released from detention by Libyan authorities, and said it would expand its programme supporting them "in urban areas so that they can get the help they need."
"We hope that the GDF will be able to return to its original function as a transit facility for the most acutely vulnerable refugees, so we are able to evacuate them to safety," Mr Cavalieri said.
He added that the facility had, in effect, become an "open centre" for urban migrants and asylum-seekers, and said the agency would continue to provide medical assistance and sanitation services there "for the foreseeable future, based on available resources".
According to the agency, some 40,000 refugees and asylum-seekers are already living in urban areas in Libya.
"Those with a valid claim for international protection are being offered the urban assistance package to help them move out, including emergency cash for an initial two months, relief items, access to primary health care and medical referrals," UNHCR said.
The agency said 40 people had already agreed to this option, which did not rule out their eligibility to be evacuated or resettled outside of Libya.
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Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
WISH
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'Worse than a prison sentence'
Marie Byrne, a counsellor who volunteers at the UAE government's mental health crisis helpline, said the ordeal the crew had been through would take time to overcome.
“It was worse than a prison sentence, where at least someone can deal with a set amount of time incarcerated," she said.
“They were living in perpetual mystery as to how their futures would pan out, and what that would be.
“Because of coronavirus, the world is very different now to the one they left, that will also have an impact.
“It will not fully register until they are on dry land. Some have not seen their young children grow up while others will have to rebuild relationships.
“It will be a challenge mentally, and to find other work to support their families as they have been out of circulation for so long. Hopefully they will get the care they need when they get home.”
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Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
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Total funding: Self funded
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Closing the loophole on sugary drinks
As The National reported last year, non-fizzy sugared drinks were not covered when the original tax was introduced in 2017. Sports drinks sold in supermarkets were found to contain, on average, 20 grams of sugar per 500ml bottle.
The non-fizzy drink AriZona Iced Tea contains 65 grams of sugar – about 16 teaspoons – per 680ml can. The average can costs about Dh6, which would rise to Dh9.
Drinks such as Starbucks Bottled Mocha Frappuccino contain 31g of sugar in 270ml, while Nescafe Mocha in a can contains 15.6g of sugar in a 240ml can.
Flavoured water, long-life fruit juice concentrates, pre-packaged sweetened coffee drinks fall under the ‘sweetened drink’ category
Not taxed:
Freshly squeezed fruit juices, ground coffee beans, tea leaves and pre-prepared flavoured milkshakes do not come under the ‘sweetened drink’ band.
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The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
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Champions League quarter-final, first leg
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