Regional responses to forced migration : the case of Libya

Migration Policy CentreThe 2011 Libyan civil war, part of the wider Arab Spring, triggered considerable population displacements. These displacements included both Libyans and third-country nationals fleeing the country by land, air and sea. Data available for spring/summer 2011 shows that an estimated 1,128,985 people left Libya to seek shelter in Tunisia, Egypt, Niger, Algeria, Chad and Sudan as well as in Malta and Italy. Research has, thus far, mainly focused on the response of the international community (UNHCR and IOM, above all), the European Union and individual countries in dealing with large numbers of displaced persons (Kelly and Wadud 2012, Fargues and Fandrich 2012, Tucci 2012, Forced Migration Review 2012). Less attention has been given to those regional entities of which Libya has been a member. These include: the African Union (AU), the League of Arab States (LAS), the Community of Sahel Saharan States (CEN-SAD), the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the Organization for the Islamic Conference (OIC). The aim of this paper is, therefore, to shed light on the (actual and potential) role of these regional organizations in alleviating those fleeing from Libya.The MPC is co-financed by the European University Institute and the European Unio