Immigrants Stuck in Libya Without Shelter - as part of the news series by GeoBeats.
Immigrants in Libya are being detained in camps because of lack of any proper documents, and after the tumultuous revolution and subsequent overthrow of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, noone seems to know how to handle this crisis. About one quarter of the Libyan population were immigrants, many of them illegal, but most fled after the revolution, leaving a shortage of people in the workforce.
Jeremy Haslam, of the International Organization for Migration said: “The migrant population represented about a third of the work force in Libya. They have to balance this need to meet the needs of the private sector for economic recovery of the country.”
Over 13 hundred immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa, Pakistan and Syria are being held in internment camps without sufficient shelter and in scorching weather.
Sebastian, a 36-year-old plumber from Benin who has been at the camp for over a month says: “It’s a nightmare. I have no idea what’s going to happen to me – if I’m going to die here or if they are going to let me go.”
The United Nations has been notified of the situation, and Libyan officials are trying to improve the process for immigrants to get their necessary paperwork.
