News Highlights: No ground for Eritrea asylum says Swiss Court, Libyan coastguard “abandoned people”,Tajani: “Niger example of EU success”

In this week’s news highlights: With the peace deal, Eritrean people hope to gain their rights; Religious prisoners in Eritrea released, but numbers are unclear; UN sanctions arms flow to South Sudan; Ethiopian intellectuals submit their proposal on peace talks; Somalia’s future under the MAF; Spanish NGO finds dead people, says Libyan Coastguard abandoned them; 8 people dead, 90 in serious condition in Libya after journey in shipping container; Swiss Court does not find legal basis to provide asylum to Eritreans; and EP President Tajani sees Niger as reflection of EU’s success.

UN Security Council imposes sanctions on six people involved in human trafficking and smuggling in Libya

The six men – four Libyans and two Eritreans – exploited Sub-Saharan Africans seeking to cross the Mediterranean across Libya. The sanctions, which went into immediate effect on Thursday 7 June, will freeze their bank accounts and ban them from international travel. These imposed sanctions follow the publication of the book “Human Trafficking and Trauma in the Digital Era. The Ongoing Tragedy of the Trade in Refugees from Eritrea.” (eds. Mirjam van Reisen & Munyaradzi Mawere, Langaa. 2017) which presented the conclusion that Eritrean refugees are trafficked by networks that are led by fellow Eritreans.

The rival leaders of Libya, a departure point for thousands of refugees to Europe, agree to election plan

In a summit in France on Tuesday the 30th of May, the rival factions of Libya, a country with an estimate of 43,113 refugees according to the UN from which 90 percent cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe, agreed to hold parliamentary and presidential elections. The summit was hosted by the French president Emmanuel macron, who called the summit ‘historic’. However, others raised critical questions about the breakthrough of the conference.