A boat crowed with dozens of migrants capsized off Libya, and at least 17 people were presumed dead, a U.N. migration official said Monday. It was the latest disaster in the Mediterranean Sea involving migrants seeking a better life in Europe.

As violence in Libya has waned this year, the number of would-be migrants to Europe intercepted so far has doubled compared to the same period of 2020, experts say.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has confirmed the rescue and return of more than 20,000 illegal immigrants to Libya over the past 7 months.

The National Committee for Human Rights in Libya (NCHRL) has urged for a comprehensive investigation into the kidnapping of activist Mansour Atti, the Red Crescent chief of Ajdabiya branch and head of the city’s civil society commission, two months after he was kidnapped from his hometown Ajdabiya by unknown gunmen.

More than 1,100 illegal migrants were rescued off the Libyan coast and returned to Libya over the past week, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said yesterday, Xinhua News Agency reports.

Some 90 migrants on a boat in distress were reportedly intercepted and returned to Libya over the weekend. The NGO Sea-Watch said Maltese authorities shared the boat’s location with the Libyan coast guard to prevent it from reaching Maltese waters.

The final communique issued at the end of the NATO Brussels Summit yesterday said: ‘‘The crisis in Libya has direct implications for regional stability and the security of all Allies.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday said he had received assurances from Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan that he wanted foreign mercenaries to leave Libyan territory as soon as possible, Reuters reported.

NATO said in a statement Monday that Libya’s crisis has direct effects on regional stability and the security of all allies, welcoming the progress made on the political level, including the endorsement of a new interim executive authority, and said it’s committed to providing advice to Libyan institutions, upon their …

While COVID-19 was the leading cause of increased anxiety, vulnerability, and psychological stress in 2020 globally, the latest World Health Organization (WHO) report on Libya notes that mental health services in Libya are essentially non-existent.