E.U. Commander: Libyans Make Millions From Migrant Smuggling
Migrant smuggling remains a major source of income for people in Libyan coastal cities, generating between $292 million and $346 million a year, according to a confidential European Union report obtained by the Associated Press.
The report by the commander of the E.U.’s naval mission Operation Sophia evaluates the impact of its efforts to stop migrant smuggling in the Mediterranean through the first 10 months of this year.
Rear Adm. Enrico Credendino said the smugglers had changed their tactics during this time; they were increasingly towing rubber boats without engines out to sea and leaving them adrift to be found by rescue ships.
A record 4,690 people have died in the Mediterranean this year, according to the International Organization for Migration.
Credendino, an Italian naval officer, said Operation Sophia would be ready to move E.U. boats into Libyan waters should the mission obtain legal and political authorization. He welcomed the recent start by the E.U. of training the Libyan coast guard to conduct migrant rescues.
Refugees in Greece Evacuated After Snow Storm
Refugees and migrants sheltering in tented camps in Greece are facing brutal winter conditions.
Greece rehoused 1,000 mostly Yazidi residents of the Petra camp on Mount Olympus on Nov. 30 after their tents had been blanketed in heavy snow. The refugees, many of them children, were taken to other shelters, hotels or hostels in the area, according to the United Nations refugee agency.
Across Greece, sub-zero temperatures, snow, rain and severe gales have battered refugee shelters.
The International Rescue Committee said last week that refugees in Greece and the Balkans were living in places that were not equipped to withstand winter weather. “Children, the elderly and other vulnerable people may die on European soil this winter unless urgent action is taken,” the New York-based group warned.
Tens of Thousands Flee Regime Advances in Aleppo
Some 30,000 people have fled the Syrian regime’s ground offensive on eastern Aleppo in recent days, the U.N. refugee agency says.
Thousands more have been displaced inside eastern Aleppo itself, many of them people who have been forced to flee several times, according to UNHCR.
Abdulkafi Alhamdo, a teacher in eastern Aleppo, told the Associated Press that refugees were filling up abandoned flats in his building. “They knock on my door all the time. They ask for a plate, or some sheets,” Alhamdo said.
The UNHCR warned that people were sheltering in partially destroyed buildings at risk of collapse. The agency added that 60–70 percent of recent arrivals in Aleppo’s government-held Jibreen district were women and children.
Regime airstrikes and artillery fire killed more than 50 newly displaced civilians in eastern Aleppo this week, the Associated Press reported. The government launched a ground assault on rebel-held parts of the city last week.
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- Reuters: Eritrean Radio Host Helps Fleeing Compatriots at Risk of Kidnap, Drowning
- Refugee Studies Center: Podcast: Shelter in Flux
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