The Christian Science Monitor

For migrants abused in Libya, Europe extends a thin lifeline

Lucas Guffanti of the French refugee resettlement agency OFPRA interviews an Eritrean migrant for final approval to relocate to France on Oct. 3, 2018, in Niamey, Niger. To stem illegal migration, the EU is spending $270 million on an "Emergency Trust Fund" in Niger, part of a security-development package that has seen the number of migrants heading north drop from 334,000 in 2016 to fewer than 50,000 in 2018.

Critics say it is just a hypocritical exercise to salve Europe’s conscience. But for Alessandra Morelli, the local head of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), an unusual international effort to rescue refugees from Libya and give them new homes “brings people back to life.”

Mohammed (not his real name), a lanky, corkscrew-haired young man, is one of them.

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