IOM EU OfficeVerified account

Thousands are dying trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea & the Atlantic Ocean from Africa to Europe. IOM, alongside @Refugees, call for concerted action to reinstate an EU-led search & rescue capacity & predictable disembarkation.

Libya is not a safe port of disembarkation. There are terrible humanitarian conditions that migrants continue to experience in Libya.

We have growing concerns about emerging instability across the Sahel, with millions internally displaced as a result of armed conflict and terrorism.

This is having a negative impact across the larger West African region, including economically, and pushed greater numbers to seek solutions further afield, including across the Mediterranean and Atlantic.

There is an urgent need for the EU to give clear signs about their priorities in partnerships with African countries, including through the next financial perspectives and in guaranteeing the continuity of ongoing programmes and projects.

“Let’s be very clear, partnerships can only work on the basis of mutual trust and mutual trust takes time to build, it is necessary not to interrupt this very fruitful dialogue that has been established since 2015 and the Valetta Summit.”

Within Europe, investment in social inclusion and access to services for migrants have never been more important to prevent destitution and vulnerability to exploitation, but also shore up community cohesion more broadly.