The European Migration Commissioner, Dimitris Avramopoulos, has called on European Union (EU) member states to conduct more emergency evacuations from Libya and take in “refugees evacuated from Libya to Niger in particular, given Niger’s limited capacity to host them.”
Speaking to German newspaper Die Welt, Avramopoulos urged EU countries to resettle more vulnerable immigrants and refugees from camps in third countries.
He also called on all EU member states to step up their resettlement efforts and implement their commitments to take in refugees as soon as possible.
Following an EU-African Union summit in 2017, Niger began to accept evacuated refugees from Libya, while Rwanda has also offered to take in evacuees, which Avramopoulos welcomed.
Meanwhile, according to the United Nations refugee agency, 14 countries — including 10 EU member states — have pledged some 6,600 resettlement places for those evacuated from Libya to Niger as of August, yet resettlement has progressed slowly, NGOs reported earlier this year.
Avramopoulos commented by saying that the EU must make resettlement a priority if they want to support partner countries that have taken in refugees.
“That’s also important to provide refugees who want to go to Europe with safe routes, so that they no longer have to fall back on dangerous and illegal sea and land routes.” He added.
Avramopoulos further explained that overall, some 35,000 refugees had been resettled to the EU from third countries over the past two years, which is more than ever before.
