RWANDA / LIBYA EVACUEES

Final preparations are underway at Gashora transit center in Rwanda where the first group of refugees and asylum seekers evacuated from detention centers in Libya are expected to arrive Thursday. UNHCR

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:50
• Production Date: 26 September 2019
• Asset Language: English
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES - UNHCR
• Subject Topical: MIGRANTS; REFUGEES
• Geographic Subject: LIBYA
• MAMS Id: 2456703
• Parent Id: 2456703
• Alternate Title: unifeed190926h

Description

STORY: RWANDA / LIBYA EVACUEES
TRT: 2:50
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNHCR ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH /NATS

DATELINE: 25 SEPTEMBER 2019, GASHORA, RWANDA

Shotlist

1. Wide shot, residents ride bicycles outside the Emergency Transit Mechanism (ETM) facility
2. Close up, sign at ETM
3. Various shots, construction work at ETM
4. Close up, UNHCR banner
5. Various shots, Yaxley talking to supervisors at ETM
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Charlie Yaxley, spokesperson, UNHCR
“Preparations are nearly complete here at Gashora transit center, we will soon have a group of 75 vulnerable refugees being brought here after being evacuated from Libya and mechanisms like this are a crucial lifeline for people who have been trapped inside Libyan detention centers where they face dire conditions and risk being caught up in the fighting. UNHCR urges the international community to support this transit center here in Rwanda but also to come forward with similar routes to safety so that we can get people out of harm’s way in Libya.”
7. Various shots, rooms at ETM
8. Various shots, worker making beds

Storyline

Final preparations are underway at Gashora transit center in Rwanda where the first group of refugees and asylum seekers evacuated from detention centers in Libya are expected to arrive Thursday (26 Sep).

The Government of Rwanda, the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR and the African Union signed a Memorandum of Understanding earlier in September to set up a transit mechanism for evacuating refugees out of Libya. Under the agreement, the Government of Rwanda will receive and provide protection to refugees and asylum-seekers who are currently being held in detention centres in Libya. They will be transferred to safety in Rwanda on a voluntary basis. The first group of 75, predominantly from the Horn of Africa, will be evacuated, including women, children and youth at risk. After their arrival, UNHCR will continue to pursue life-saving solutions for the evacuees. UNHCR has evacuated more than 4,400 refugees and asylum-seekers out of Libya to other countries since 2017, including 2,900 through the Emergency Transit Mechanism in Niger and 425 to European countries through the Emergency Transit Centre in Romania.

“UNHCR urges the international community to support this transit center here in Rwanda but also to come forward with similar routes to safety so that we can get people out of harm’s way in Libya,” said the UNHCR spokesperson Charlie Yaxley in Gashora on Wednesday (25 Sep).