This is a compilation of the tweets by the MENA Regional Coordinator of the International Detention Coalition. For live updates, follow @IDC_MENA
Regional: Latest Mixed Migration Trend Report from MHUB provides detailed statistics reflecting migration trends in the region over the past month, including numbers of those detained.
“The umbrella term ‘migrant’ is no longer fit for purpose when it comes to describing the horror unfolding in the Mediterranean.” The term ‘migrant’ has become a tool, a “blunt pejorative”, which dehumanises and distances the experiences and traumas of individuals seeking protection. Al Jazeera explains why it will no longer use the word ‘migrant’ in the context of Middle East and North Africans seeking asylum in Europe.
Libya: Sudanese in Libya call for repatriation. The situation for an estimated 6-8000 Sudanese currently living in Libya has deteriorated in the context of the country’s complex political situation. Sudanese nationals have been unable to find employment and thus sustain themselves. Significantly, there have been increasing reports of Sudanese being detained, sometimes charged with belonging to Islamic State (IS), and imprisoned. “There are a lot of Sudanese now in Libyan prisons,” Moataz Abdelsalam, a Sudanese in Benghazi, told Radio Dabanga.
Israel: African migrants released from Israeli detention centers. Yet significant concerns remain for the welfare and livelihood of migrants released from detention into the community.
Egypt: Sudanese refugees stuck “in a timeline of detentions, forced migration, diaspora hardship”. According to the latest data from UNHCR, since the beginning of the year more than 650 Sudanese refugees and asylum seekers have been detained for trying to leave the country irregularly. Sudenese nationals make up the vast majority of Egypt’s refugee population.
Over the past month alone, a total of 5,087 people have reportedly been arrested over attempted “illegal immigration” through Egypt’s borders, part of a hard line crack-down on irregular migration into, and out of the country.