The European Union yesterday adopted three new programmes worth over €150 million under the European Union Emergency Trust Fund for Africa, directly following up on the commitments made by the Joint African Union – European Union – United Nations Task Force to address the migrant situation in Libya.

The new programmes complement ongoing efforts of the European Union to protect migrants and provide them with sustainable reintegration options in Libya, along the Central Mediterranean Route and in Ethiopia.

Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations, Johannes Hahn, said the new programmes were “delivering on the commitments made in the framework of the joint EU-AU-UN Task Force and increase our already significant on-going support to those in need in Libya. We are actively working to save lives, protect people, as well as offering humane alternatives for people to leave the country and return back home. Equally important, we are working on new measures to support Libyan municipalities enhance the delivery of basic social services and improve local governance for both local and migrant population”.

As announced by High Representative Federica Mogherini at the Joint Task Force meeting last December, an additional €115 million have been made available to support migrants in Libya. This programme will be implemented together with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). It complements an already existing measure worth €162 million. This new regional programme aims at protecting and evacuating additional 3,800 refugees from Libya, as well as providing protection and voluntary humanitarian return to 15,000 migrants stranded in Libya and support them with reintegration assistance in their countries of origin, as committed by the EU in the framework of the Joint Taskforce. It will also support the resettlement of more than 14,000 people in need of international protection from Niger, Chad, Cameroun and Burkina Faso.

Another measure worth €20 million will be dedicated to improve the assistance provided to vulnerable migrants, particularly young people and women, in transit countries in the Sahel region and the Lake Chad Basin.

Through an action worth €15 million, the EU will also expand its support to sustainable reintegration for Ethiopian citizens.

The EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa was established in 2015 in order to address the root causes of irregular migration and forced displacement.

The Joint Task Force was set up with the African Union and United Nations on 29 November 2017, committed to accelerate ongoing efforts to assist migrants and refugees in Libya and advance the programme of the International Organisation for Migration for assisted voluntary returns from Libya to countries of origin and the emergency transit mechanism of the UNHCR, to evacuate people in need of international protection.

For more information

Press release

EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa

Factsheet: EU Trust Fund for Africa – North Africa Window: Improving migration management in the North of Africa region

Factsheet: EU Trust Fund for Africa – Support to Libya

EU – IOM Joint Initiative for Migrant Protection and Reintegration: one year on