An initial group of 45 Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) fleeing
violence in Libya returned to the Philippines Tuesday, through the
assistance of the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The group is the first batch of OFWs to return through IOM
assistance since the Philippine government requested the
organization's help in evacuating Filipinos stranded in Libya. They
arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila in two
batches on Gulf Air flights at 1025H and 1500H respectively.
The OFWs travelled by land from eastern Libya and arrived at
Salum on the the Egyptian border. They were bussed to Cairo before
boarding their flights to the Philippines. There are an estimated
26,000 Filipino migrant workers in Libya.
Meanwhile the situation at the border is deteriorating,
according to IOM staff on the ground. There are currently close to
22,000 Egyptian migrants alone at a reception and processing centre
in Salum and another 7,000 migrants stranded in a compound in
no-man’s land between Libya and Egypt without papers or food
or water.
IOM teams have begun registration of the non-Egyptian migrants
in no-mans land in order to organize their evacuation. Many of them
are Bangladesh nationals and a group of over 450 of them are due to
depart in the next few days.
In coordination with the Egyptian authorities, IOM is also
providing the migrants with humanitarian assistance including
blankets, food and water.
On Friday, IOM launched a USD 11 million appeal to assist
migrants caught up in the violence in Libya, who are in need of
evacuation and repatriation. The amount would allow IOM to assist
an initial batch of 10,000 migrants. However, official requests by
several countries for IOM to evacuate and repatriate their
nationals mean that the number of people needing assistance could
rise to at least 50,000.
IOM remains in close coordination with the Department of Foreign
Affairs and embassies of the Philippines in Cairo and Tripoli, as
well as IOM offices in the region to assist other Filipinos in
need.
IOM has extensive experience in evacuating Filipinos and other
foreign nationals from war-torn countries. In 2006, it helped to
repatriate about 3,600 Filipinos out of Lebanon. IOM also assisted
in the voluntary repatriation of thousands of OFWs during the Gulf
War in 1991.
For more information:
IOM
Duc Tran, IOM Philippines,
Tel: + 632 838 1260
E-mail:
"mailto:dtran@iom.int">dtran@iom.int