First Independent Mena Newspaper
At least 90 migrants, mostly Pakistanis, lost their lives off the coast of Libya on Friday after their boat capsized, according to press reports. The victims were dreaming to reach Italy but their vessel, owned by smugglers, sank adding a new tragedy in the Mediterranean Sea. According to IOM Libya’s Olivia Headon, 10 bodies washed […]
Nearly two months after reports emerged showing African migrants sold out as slaves in Libya, the African Union launched a repatriation operation that saw 13,000 migrants return to their homelands since last December. Speaking to the press, Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Mahamat Faki, noted that the number is still below the goal set […]
Civil society associations in Guinea, Gabon and Niger have urged the African Union to put the issue of the human rights violations by Algerian authorities against Sub-Saharan migrants on the agenda as Algiers continues arbitrary expulsions of would-be migrants who are often abandoned in the desert on the borders with Niger. At a time the […]
Migrants and particularly Sub-Saharans continue to risk everything for a better life in Europe. The number of those who lost their lives in the Mediterranean is rising dramatically. This weekend, at least eight people died and 86 others were rescued after their small inflatable boat sank off the coast of Libya, according to the Italian […]
In yet a new violation of the UN Geneva Convention, Algerian authorities have proceeded to the indiscriminate extraditing of 10,000 sub-Saharans in need of international protection. The figure was “proudly” announced by Algeria’s Interior Ministry Noureddine Bedoui in line with the wave of anti-migrant populism expressed by senior political figures in the country, venting the […]
Amnesty International has denounced European governments’ inaction over the torture and abuse of tens of thousands of refugees and migrants detained in Libya in appalling conditions. In a report published in the wake of global outrage over the sale of migrants in Libya, AI shed lights on how European governments are “actively supporting a sophisticated […]
The European Union has earmarked €29.6 million to fund new programs destined to protect migrants and fight against smugglers and traffickers in Africa and the Mediterranean region. Supported by EU Trust Fund for Africa, these programs will strengthen the migrants’ protection, support their sustainable reintegration or voluntary return as well as combat the criminal networks […]
Moroccan authorities are taking the necessary measures to repatriate the migrants who are held by human trafficking networks in Libya, their crossing point to Italian coasts, Spokesperson for the government Mustapha El Khalfi said. The Libyan army has freed several Moroccans, estimated at more than 200 people, from the yoke of the criminal networks and […]
Algerian authorities have been rounding up sub-Saharan Africans in and around Algiers and have deported more than 3,000 to Niger since August 25, 2017, without giving them an opportunity to challenge their expulsion, Human Rights Watch said. Those expelled include migrants who have lived and worked for years in Algeria, pregnant women, families with newborn […]
Algeria has been repeatedly lambasted in reports by international rights watchdogs for its systematic discrimination against minorities, whether religious, linguistic or ethnic. Intolerance towards minorities is espoused at the state level as evidenced by the growing religious intolerance and persecution targeting the Ahmadi community, among other communities. Religious minorities Recently, HRW raised the alarm concerning […]