MEDirections publishes the second Policy Brief from the Libya Initiative’s mentorship of junior Libyan analysts.
Although the number of migrants attempting to illegally cross the Mediterranean from Libya to Europe decreased in mid-2017, current policies aimed at curbing flows do not address local concerns and challenges, and are therefore unlikely to prove successful in the mid- to long-term.
The fieldwork-based research paper Local Specificities of Migration in Libya: Challenges and Solutions analyses migrant smuggling networks in Libya at the local level to answer the question: what policy responses could result in a sustainable reduction of illegal migration to and through Libya?
By analysing the very different profiles of smuggling networks in Libya’s southern, central and coastal regions, particularly in terms of the actors involved and their connections to wider society, Abdulrahman al-Arabi suggests possible entry points for more successful long-term policies.