[Field Story] 17,000 illegal immigrants rescued from Libyan seas in 2023

The UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM) announced on the 2nd (local time) that the total number of illegal immigrants rescued from Libyan seas and returned to Libya in 2023, reached a total of 17,025. 

IOM  reported that in the past week, a total of 1,234 illegal immigrants were handed over to Libya due to crackdowns while attempting to immigrate to Europe.

In addition, IOM announced that in 2023 alone, the number of migrants who died while traveling to Europe via the central Mediterranean route from the coast of Libya, was 974 and 1,372 people went missing.

In 2022, the number of rescued refugees was 24,684, the number of dead and missing people were 529 and 848, respectively. In contrast, in 2023, the number of rescuers was found to have decreased significantly as immigration departure points were dispersed to places such as Tunisia due to each country's crackdown on immigration to the Mediterranean.

Libya has been a preferred departure point for African migrants bound for Europe since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi's dictatorship in 2011.

As most immigrants cross the Mediterranean Sea in flimsy small ships or boats to reach the European coast, the number of deaths and disappearances continues to rise.

Source: Newsis

“After this I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things (Acts 15:16-17)

Jehovah God, who loves all nations and wants them to reach salvation. Please have  pity on the Libyan people who have attempted to migrate with their lives on the line, in hopes for a better life, but who have failed to return to their homeland and die and go missing. 

We hope that the word of the prophecy for the Libyans, that they will rebuild what has been broken and that all the Gentiles who are called in the name of the Lord will be eager to find the Lord, be fulfilled. 

Not for the salvation of the flesh as they become illegal migrants by attempting to illegally migrate to Europe, but allow them to rise up as a nation, eager for the Lord and desperately seeking the eternal kingdom of God.