The unrest in Libya and the massive exodus to neighbouring countries continue to leave urgent needs for humanitarian aid. Inside Libya around 600,000 are expected to be in need of aid. Through the deployment of relief experts to Tunisia and Egypt, the Danish Refugee Council is now assisting the UN in the current response as well as positioning for interventions inside Libya as soon as the situation allows for.

Nearly 290,000 people have fled Libya and with 100,000 more expected to follow in near future. And projections from the UN put the number of people in need of humanitarian aid inside the county as high as 600,000.

For the Danish Refugee Council it is imperative to be positioned in the region to take part in the international responsibility to respond to the needs.

Following the crisis in North Africa, the Danish Refugee Council is now deploying expertise to North Africa. The Danish Refugee Council is supporting the UN operations by seconding relief experts through its Stand-by Roster.

These secondments include two persons to the UNHCR in Egypt, and two to Tunisia to the UNHCR and UNICEF respectively.

“Besides deploying expertise to the UN operations we have also sent our own assessment team. It is essential that we are situated in the region to be able to respond to the crisis with a very short notice. Therefore, we have an assessment team in Tunisia now, looking into possibilities for assistance. And of course we will be able to intervene inside Libya as well as soon as resources are in place and the situation allows us to work there safely," says Ann Mary Olsen, head of the international department of the Danish Refugee Council.

The vast majority of people arriving in Tunisia are labour migrants leaving Libya due to unrest. More than half of those who have left Libya have crossed the border to Tunisia, and more than 120,000 have crossed to Egypt in east. From the two neighbouring countries people have continued onwards either by themselves or with the assistance of the UN and other relief organisations.

Photo by UNHRC/ A. Duclos

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