Annex B: Letter from Rt Hon Alistair Burt MP, Minister of State at the Department for International Development, to Thangam Debbonaire MP
28 November
Dear Thangam,
Thank you for your question during Oral Questions to the Department for International Development on Wednesday 21 November, where you raised the Important issue of current conditions for children living in Libyan detention centres. I should like to take this opportunity to reaffirm our shared concern and set out what the Government is doing to improve this situation in more detail.
Last week, the Guardian reported that child refugees are being abused and starved in detention centres in Libya. The conditions in these centres are appalling and we are concerned about those living In them. The UK government does not fund the operational costs of these centres or have any involvement in the day-to-day running of them. The migrant centres are the responsibility of the Libyan authorities. We are urging the Libyan authorities to improve conditions in the centres and, where it is possible to do so, UK aid is providing basic humanitarian support to those who are in them, including blankets and clothes.
Alongside this, we are also working with the European Union Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF). This fund improves conditions for migrants In detention centres, where it is possible to do so. Initiatives include providing safe spaces for the most vulnerable, installing air ventilation, water, sanitation and hygiene items, toilet facilities, and mobile medical assistance.
We have consistently raised the need to respect the human rights of migrants with the Libyan authorities, including during the recent visit by the Development Secretary in August 2018, to ensure basic services are provided and to develop alternatives to detention. UK support for the Libyan Coastguard and Navy, through our contribution to the EU’s Operation Sophia, also aims to increase Libya’s ability to secure its own maritime borders in a way that is compliant with human rights, with a focus on rescue activities and disrupting people smuggling/trafficking.
These efforts are part of our wider approach to protecting those who are travelling on the dangerous migration route into Libya. As part of our current £75 million migration programme (working along the whole route from West Africa via the Sahel to Libya), we have allocated up to £5 million to humanitarian assistance and protection for migrants and refugees in Libya, including targeted healthcare provision. UK aid is also making those migrating aware of the dangers ahead and supporting them to return voluntarily.
We are educating people before they decide to travel to Libya, informing them about the living conditions and the other risks they may face, such as falling into the hands of human traffickers who might enslave them, extort money from their families or abandon them in the desert.
As you rightly raised in your question, offering routes to sanctuary remains vital. The UK will continue to receive and protect displaced vulnerable people by offering them refuge. In Libya specifically, UNHCR has started life-saving evacuations of targeted groups of extremely vulnerable people who have· been subject to serious violations of their human rights. Following UNHCR’s appeal for resettlement places, the UK has committed to resettle up to 90 of the most vulnerable refugees who have been evacuated from Libya to Niger. This will include up to 50 unaccompanied minors. Further, we will also settle 3,000 vulnerable refugee children and their families from the Middle East and North Africa more widely by 2020, (some 883 have already been resettled). This is in addition to our commitment to resettle 20,000 refugees under the Vulnerable Persons Settlement Scheme (VPRS) through which a total of 12,851 people have so far been resettled in the UK—around half of which are children.
The Government is also working closely with our European partners, the EU and upstream African countries to tackle the shared challenge of irregular migration. Through our EUTF contribution, the UK has supported the EU and Africa Union joint commitment to significantly increase voluntary returns of those who want to leave Libya (as agreed at the EU–AU Summit in November 2017). Since then, more than 15,000 people have been suppor1ed to return home. We are also providing reintegration support in key source countries for migrants returning from Libya, to complement our EUTF support. For example, we are scaling up our reintegration assistance for those leaving Libya, including a new £3 million programme helping integrate trafficking victims returning to Nigeria announced by the Prime Minister during her recent trip to Africa.
Outside detention centres we are working to boost political participation and economic development, and support the delivery of greater security and stability in Libya. This is in addition to funding a two–year programme to provide humanitarian assistance to vulnerable people, which includes improving access to primary health care, building the capacity of health workers and bolstering humanitarian coordination and capability.
Despite these international efforts, it is clear that the human rights situation in Libya can only be improved under the stability of a united and representative Government. As I mentioned in my initial response, we will continue to participate in international conferences like that at Palermo in November 2018, to revitalise the political process. We remain steadfast in our ambition to help Libya find a political resolution and build greater stability.
I hope this response reassures you that we are doing everything within our power to improve the situation. I am placing a copy of this letter in the Libraries of the House.
Alistair Burt
Published: 27 June 2019