[…]"They’re just not that vulnerable’ is a
phrase we say to our colleagues over and over again each day. Of course as
professionals we know that vulnerability criteria are important ways to
prioritise cases and determine who is the most in need. But in Tripoli, as is
well-known in many other urban contexts, the most vulnerable cannot even reach
UNHCR offices. While UNHCR conducts outreach to detention centres and has
registration missions to other locations, the most vulnerable remain hidden in
their houses too afraid of being picked up at a checkpoint and detained to risk
leaving. What might appear to be a simple taxi journey to an international
organisation’s office can be dangerous for a black African who might be robbed,
extorted or beaten by the driver. On a recent visit to an outer suburb in
Tripoli we found a Somali woman who had given birth to her child with no
medical assistance four weeks prior and was yet to have a check-up because she
had no money for the taxi fare. Even she knew that in the vast sprawling city
of Tripoli, going across town without any documents was an unwise move. As a
result, services cannot reach the people most in need and vice versa.
Each international organisation has
separate offices, in different parts of the city, requiring different referrals
and so asylum seekers waste money and time travelling across town to get one
piece of paper and then another. Ironically in this scenario the best served
are in detention where international NGOs visit on a more regular basis. On the
legal and policy framework front, three years since the Revolution, a draft
Asylum Law remains in draft, much-hoped for policies and procedures remain just
that … much hoped for. With no opportunities for resettlement, local
integration impossible and return against UNHCR guidelines for most of these
cases, it is little wonder then that our clients start to tell us “I am
thinking to get the boat”. When we try to explain the risks and dangers of this
option, we then get asked “well, how can you help me”. A pause often falls over
the conversation at this point, we might mention “basic NFIs, basic health
care, referrals for restoration of family links”. You can almost see the calculations
starting to take place in a person’s mind. They are stuck in Libya, with no
real prospects and the sea the only way out.
And people are taking the boats from Libya
in unprecedented numbers. As recent Frontex data shows, the greatest increase
in departures was from Syrians and Eritreans, with Somalis not far behind. This
mirrors the profile of registered asylum seekers in Libya. People are also
dying or being rescued at sea in higher numbers. Last year there was a huge
outpouring of grief when hundreds of people died off the coast of Lampedusa.
But such outpourings are meaningless when we are faced with the solutions and
do nothing.
