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STORY: GENEVA / LIBYA AIRSTRIKE
TRT: 3:17
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 05 JULY 2019, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
FILE - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, Palais des Nations exterior
05 JULY 2019, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
2. Wide shot, panel
3. Med shot, laptops, journalists typing
4. Close up, journalists writing and typing
5. Med shot, laptops, journalists typing
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Joel Millman, Spokesperson, International Organization for Migration (IOM):
“Fifty-three migrants are confirmed dead, among them six children following Tuesday’s airstrike on the Tajoura detention centre. Over 130 people were injured. The more than 600 migrants detained at Tajoura represented at least 17 different nationalities; mainly African.”
7. Med shot, journalists writing and typing
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Charlie Yaxley, Spokesperson, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR):
“Our colleagues spoke to some of the refugees who are severely traumatized by this week’s events. They spoke in a state of shock and had spoken to us about how they had seen their fellow detainees’ body parts dismembered around the centre.”
9. Close up, journalists writing and typing
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Charlie Yaxley, Spokesperson, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR):
“We reiterate once again that the coordinates of these detention centres in Tripoli are well-known to both sides of the conflict, and this was a preventable tragedy that never should have happened.”
11. Close up, journalists writing and typing
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Charlie Yaxley, Spokesperson, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR):
“We are not able to verify who is responsible for the attack, that’s why there needs to be this independent investigation. What we can say is that, is at this point there does need to be greater efforts, far greater efforts from the international community, particularly amongst those States that have leverage over the warring parties to bring an end to the violence; to bring together to the negotiating table and to establish a political dialogue that brings and end to these clashes.”
13. Med shot, onlookers
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Charlie Yaxley, Spokesperson, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR):
“We are concerned that some of these detention centres may be being used to store weapons and military equipment. We remind all parties to the conflict that using civilian infrastructure in that way would be a violation of international humanitarian law and must be avoided at all costs.”
15. Close up, journalists writing and typing
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Joel Millman, Spokesperson, International Organization for Migration (IOM):
“The survivors told IOM staff that the inflatable boat carrying 86 people including four women and two children, left Zwara around 6 am on 1 July. A few hours later the boat began to leak and capsized due to the confusion and frantic movements of dozens of people on board.”
17. Med shot, laptops, journalists typing
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Joel Millman, Spokesperson, International Organization for Migration (IOM):
“So far this year, 426 have drowned attempting to cross the central Mediterranean route, while some 3,750 have been returned to systematic and arbitrary detention—where they remain at risk as clashes continue to rage in Libya’s capital Tripoli.”
19. Various shots, journalists
The toll from Tuesday’s airstrikes on a detention centre in Tripoli has risen to 53 dead and more than 130 injured, with people in the centre “severely traumatized” by what they saw, UN aid agencies said, reiterating their appeal to close all such facilities in Libya.
Speaking to journalists in Geneva today (05 Jul), Joel Millman from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said that children were among the fatalities at the Tajoura site.
SOUNDBITE (English) Joel Millman, Spokesperson, International Organization for Migration (IOM):
“Fifty-three migrants are confirmed dead, among them six children following Tuesday’s airstrike on the Tajoura detention centre. Over 130 people were injured. The more than 600 migrants detained at Tajoura represented at least 17 different nationalities; mainly African.”
Some 350 migrants - among them 20 women and four children – are still being held at Tajoura, the IOM spokesperson added, noting that he was unable to confirm reports that guards had fired on migrants trying to flee.
Millman further noted that approximately 180 of the 600 people held in Tajoura had agreed to be evacuated under IOM’s voluntary repatriation programme, and that two of them had died in the airstrikes.
According to IOM and the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) 3,300 migrants and refugees remain arbitrarily detained inside and around Tripoli.
UNHCR’s Charlie Yaxley noted that both parties involved in the fight for Tripoli - the UN-recognised Government and forces loyal to Khalifa Haftar – knew where civilians were sheltering.
“We reiterate once again that the coordinates of these detention centres in Tripoli are well-known to both sides of the conflict and this was a preventable tragedy that never should have happened,” he said, while also noting that refugees had been “severely traumatized” after seeing fellow detainees dying.
“They spoke in a state of shock and had spoken to us about how they had seen their fellow detainees’ body parts dismembered around the centre,” he said.
Asked who had carried out the airstrikes, Yaxley replied that UNHCR was unable to apportion blame.
“We are not able to verify who is responsible for the attack, that’s why there needs to be this independent investigation,” he said. “What we can say is that, is at this point there does need to be greater efforts, far greater efforts from the international community, particularly amongst those States who have leverage over the warring parties to bring an end to the violence. To bring together to the negotiating table and to establish a political dialogue that brings and end to these clashes.”
Addressing the dangers faced by those being held in Libya, Yaxley cited concerns that “some of these detention centres may be being used to store weapons and military equipment. We remind all parties that conflict is using civilian infrastructure in that way, would be a violation of international humanitarian law and must be avoided at all costs.”
In addition to the Tajoura tragedy, IOM also reported that more than 80 migrants are feared drowned after their boat capsized while trying to reach Europe from the Libyan port of Zwara.
“The survivors told IOM staff that the inflatable boat carrying 86 people including four women and two children, left Zwara around 6am on 1 July,” Millman said. “A few hours later, the boat began to leak and capsized during the confusion and frantic movements of the dozens of people on board.”
Noting that this is not the first such tragedy this year, IOM said in a statement that two rescues were carried out in May on two overloaded crafts.
On one vessel, 59 people went missing and 16 were rescued; on the second, 69 were saved. Both boats reportedly left Zwara.
So far this year, the UN migration agency has reported 426 deaths from drowning linked to attempts to cross the central Mediterranean route to Europe.
