A key olicy argument for keeping migrants in Libya is that it will protect them from falling into the hands of people smugglers. But we have no way of knowing how many die before they reach the Mediterranean.In Libya, we have no official data on migrant deaths. Leaving Libya became an emergency and his family fled northward across the Mediterranean.Without any way to track migrant deaths in Libya and other African transit countries such as Algeria or Niger it is not possible to know the number of migrant deaths in these countries. In other cases, migrants may be trafficked from Libya to Italy.There are alternative ways that the EU could manage this large movement of people. These alternatives require further cooperation from a fragmented EU.Forcing migrants to stay in Libya is not the same as forcing migrants to stay in Turkey.

Source: Libya Today February 22, 2017 10:54 UTC