Pope Francis on Sunday urged countries not to send migrants back to insecure countries such as Libya, where he said many suffer violent and inhumane conditions similar to those in concentration camps.

The United Nations said on Friday that it has resumed humanitarian evacuation flights for migrants stranded in Libya after authorities suspended them for several months. The announcement comes after a massive crackdown on migrants by Libyan security forces.

Thousands of refugees and migrants have been camped out in front of a United Nations centre in Tripoli for three weeks, calling for evacuation from Libya in the wake of sweeping raids that saw thousands arrested.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) yesterday warned of the “immediate danger” to the safety and wellbeing of at least 1,000 women and children detained in refugee detention centres in Libya.

Libyan authorities have been accused by a European human rights monitor of holding hundreds of Moroccan migrants in inhumane conditions without legal justification for months.

Walk down any commercial street in the Libyan capital Tripoli and the pavements will be lined with generators ready to spring into action whenever the mains electricity supply cuts out.

In-depth: As the coronavirus crisis further ravages the war-torn country, Libya’s position as a major transit point for people smugglers has seen scores of unidentified bodies delivered to the country’s morgues.

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, today welcomed the initiative of the Libyan government to vaccinate refugees and asylum-seekers against COVID-19, together with other third country nationals.

The African Union, European Union, and United Nations (AU-EU-UN) Task Force on Libya said in a joint statement that they were very concerned about recent developments regarding the situation of immigrants and refugees in Libya; particularly, about the nearly 6000 of the most vulnerable immigrants and asylum seekers currently arbitrarily …

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has expressed concerns over the protection of rescued children in Libya, Xinhua news agency reports.