Since 2011, Libya has been experiencing political turmoil that has reverberated across its society. Recognizing the broad impacts of these developments, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) commissioned a study on long-term migrants in Libya, focusing specifically on circumstances related to livelihoods, remittances, and security.
While existing literature extensively focuses on the conditions, challenges, and risks associated with transiting through Libya, this study aims to shed more light on the circumstances of migrants who have stayed in Libya for more than a year. Research conceptualizing migration in Libya through the perspective of transit migration frequently focuses on mobility as a central topic and explores issues arising from circumstances that put transitory migrants at risks, such as dangerous desert and sea crossings, incidences of human rights violations, risk of exploitation, and limited access to public services and justice. While recognizing that some of those challenges and vulnerabilities may be applicable to both long-term migrants and short-term transit migrants, this research intends to contribute to the migration discourse on Libya by distinguishing between these two groups and specifically examines the situation of long-term migrants in terms of livelihoods, remittances, security and migration intentions to provide a better understanding of their circumstances.
The report is the outcome of a SIPA capstone project that was organized in Spring 19 with IOM Libya.
To learn more about the project, please follow this link: https://sipa.columbia.edu/academics/capstone-projects/analyzing-circumstances-long-term-migrants-post-2011-libya
