Archive for the ‘Libya’ Category

Libya to step up regulation of tuna fishing – SeafoodSource

Libyas United Nations-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) is proposing measures to support planned improvements to regulations on hunting, selling, and exporting of tuna in 2020.

During a recent meeting to discuss the way forward for Libyas dwindling tuna fishery organized by the Ministry of Economy in the countrys capital, Tripoli participants from various government departments committed to working together to revamp the industry by developing rules and regulations that align it to international best practices and standards, according to the Libya Herald.

Participants at the meeting also discussed a proposal to review tuna fishing licenses, and how to address the current challenges of inadequate mechanisms to monitor compliance to the license conditions, in addition to the inability of the government to ensure transparency in the collection and utilization of fishing license fees.

Libya produces bluefin tuna, a species whose production has been lagging since 2012, when the Government of National Accord was formed to replace the collapsed government of former dictator Muammar Gaddaffi. Production reached just 1,796.9 metric tons (MT) in 2018, according to the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT).

However, that number was an increase from 1,323.3 MT and 1,588.9 MT for 2016 and 2017, respectively, and it has risen from lows of 756 MT in 2012. Post-2012, each year saw a slight increase in catch: 929 MT, 933 MT and 1,153 MT for 2013, 2014, and 2015, respectively.

Last year, ICCAT raised the annual global bluefin tuna fishing quota to 32,240 tons, with 17,623 MT being allocated to the European Union.

Despite efforts by institutions such as ICAAT to generate the latest developments in Libyas fishing industry, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said the country has no official data available since the last few years.

Nevertheless, FAO estimates Libyas capture fisheries to have reached 32,000 MT in 2017, barely over half the output the country had before the 2011 Arab Spring.

Libyas aquaculture has also declined to 10 MT from the 400 MT the country produced in the early 2000s, with fish imports estimated at USD 137 million (EUR 126 million) and exports at USD 36 million (EUR 32 million), respectively.

Last year, ICCAT said Libyas Total Allowable Catch (including discards) was fixed at 2,060 MT for the entire year, with the association saying the North African country shall have no trap and farming activity in fishing season 2019 after the country fully committed to conduct this (2019) fishing season in line with the pertinent ICCAT resolutions and recommendations.

Photo courtesy of Mohamed I Kalid/Shutterstock

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Libya to step up regulation of tuna fishing - SeafoodSource

Commissioner urges Italy to suspend co-operation activities with Libyan Coast Guard and introduce human rights safeguards in future migration…

In a letter addressed to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy, Luigi Di Maio, published today, the Commissioner urges the Italian government to introduce human rights safeguards in the Memorandum of Understanding between Italy and Libya.

While noting that discussions to improve human rights compliance in the future are ongoing, the Commissioner calls on Italy to acknowledge the realities currently prevailing on the ground in Libya and to suspend co-operation activities with the Libyan Coast Guard that result in the return of persons intercepted at sea to Libya.

In this context, Commissioner Mijatovi draws the attention of the government to key safeguards to be introduced in any migration co-operation with third countries to effectively guarantee respect for human rights. Referring to her Recommendation Lives saved. Rights protected. Bridging the protection gap for refugees and migrants in the Mediterranean (Recommendation in Italian), she underlines the need to assess the risks to the human rights of migrants and asylum seekers of any migration co-operation activities, to develop strategies to mitigate those risks, to devise independent monitoring mechanisms, and to establish an effective system of redress.

The Commissioner also stresses in the letter that she will continue to call for more solidarity from Council of Europe member states with those countries which, like Italy, are on the frontline of migration movements to Europe, and for better co-operation to ensure the effective preservation of life and the protection of the human rights of those at sea, including through responsibility sharing for adequate rescue capacity and the timely disembarkation of those rescued.

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Commissioner urges Italy to suspend co-operation activities with Libyan Coast Guard and introduce human rights safeguards in future migration...

Libyan ministers respond to international reports on immigrants’ abuse – The Libya Observer

A tripartite meeting for the Libyan Interior, Foreign and Justice Ministers responded Thursday to the international reports that tackled abuse against illegal immigrants.

In a joint meeting, Fathi Bashagha, Mohammed Sayala and Emhemed Abdelwahid said the hurdles the illegal immigrants go through "should be tackled objectively and in a civilized way".

"Those ideological media outlets that are shedding tears on the status of the illegal immigrants are using the immigrants for political agenda and thus they should pressure their governments to devise plans to curb migration flows by investments and work opportunities in Africa to allow the immigrants lead a normal life. The ministers stated.

Meanwhile, a statement by the Interior Ministry said illegal immigration needs national plans as Libya has been exhausted financially, politically and administratively by it over the years, calling for ending the use of this issue in political, social and economic agenda by different countries.

The Government of National Accord came under bitter criticism for alleged abuse and violations against illegal immigrants in detention centres across areas under its control to the extent that Italian NGOs called on the government not to renew MoU with Libya for "arbitrary detention and abuse against immigrants"

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Libyan ministers respond to international reports on immigrants' abuse - The Libya Observer

The Fate Of Libyan Oil Hangs In The Balance – OilPrice.com

By Editorial Dept - Feb 21, 2020, 12:00 PM CST

Haftar Waiting Out Another Turkish Misstep in Libya

Last week, international media said that Libyan oil production had dropped to just under 164,000 bpd. Less than a week later, on Monday, Feb 17th, the Libyan National Oil Company (NOC) said that oil production was down to just under 136,000 bpd. That represents a financial loss of over $1.6 billion.

The NOC is still supplying the Central and Eastern regions with enough to meet their transport and domestic needs, though storage facilities in and around Tripoli are facing supply shortages.

It is not a sustainable situation, even as the media claim that both sides in the conflict are in it for the long haul. Money will dictate otherwise.

The tension on the ground this week was palpable, and more confusing than ever as Libyans celebrated the revolution that overthrew Ghaddafi on February 17 eight years ago. After eight years of chaos hijacked by various militias, no one knows exactly what theyre celebrating.

It will be important to watch what Turkey does next because its in a tight spot and has overstepped in multiple venues. Its being overrun by the Syrian Army and the Russians in Syria, and its sent Syrian mercenaries (with false promises) to fight in Libya. They are not likely to represent a loyal mercenary force when they realize they wont get what they want back at home in Syria. Again, that is leverage for Haftar in Tripoli, where hes

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The Fate Of Libyan Oil Hangs In The Balance - OilPrice.com

Libyan air crash: ‘There was a picture of Ruben in his hospital bed. He was so beautiful and small and broken’ – Belfast Telegraph

In 2010, a plane travelling from South Africa to Tripoli crashed in Libya, leaving a sole survivor in the form of nine-year-old Ruben van Assouw. A total of 103 passengers and crew members, including Ruben's mother, father and older brother, died in the crash. Ruben was found half a mile away, semi-conscious and still strapped into his aeroplane seat.

n New York, the tragedy hit writer Ann Napolitano particularly hard. With two sons (aged one and three) of her own, she began to "obsess" over the story, and in particular Ruben's experience of losing his parents and brother.

"Part of it obsessed me immediately and my sticky writer's interest," Napolitano recalls. "I couldn't read enough about it."

One aspect of the scenario fascinated Napolitano in particular. In 2010, social media was in its infancy, and the aftermath of the crash played out on Facebook and Twitter in ways she had never witnessed before.

"When I was reading everything I could about the crash, that included young girls posting up Facebook pages about how cute he was and how sad they were for him," she recalls. "Elsewhere, aviation aficionados were speculating on how the plane might have crashed, because (authorities) hadn't released this information.

"For the first time, there was this massive event, and it wasn't just journalists reporting on it," she adds. "There was a picture of (Ruben) in the media in his hospital bed, and he was so beautiful and small and broken. How was he going to get out of that hospital bed without his mom and dad and brother, and possibly create his own life?"

The question formed the backbone for Napolitano's third novel, Dear Edward. Here, 12-year-old Edward is the sole survivor of a flight from New York to Los Angeles, where he is relocating with his mother, father and older brother Jordan.

After being discharged from hospital after the plane crash, he is adopted by his sole surviving blood relative, his aunt Lacey, and her husband John. They are weathering their own personal problems, but now have to not only help Edward through his physical and emotional recovery, but shield him from the world's considerable attention.

Edward finds a friend in his new next-door neighbour, a young girl named Shay. One day, he discovers a large bag of letters written to him by the loved ones of those who did not survive that fateful crash.

Ruben van Assouw's new family have done such a stellar job of protecting his privacy that Napolitano never found out much about the fate of the youngster, now 19.

"I needed to know that he was okay, but of course there was no way for me to know that, so for me to believe that somehow the boy was okay, I had to create a set of fictional circumstances. When I started writing the story, my boys were at that toddler age - they don't know who they are, but they were completely devoted to each other and deeply in love since I brought the second one home," Napolitano adds.

"I would have assumed that for a boy like Edward, the loss of his parents would be the greatest loss, but then I started to think that the greatest loss for one of my boys would be if I separated them. You're not supposed to be separated from your sibling. You grow up and move apart from your parents, but the love you have for a sibling bakes itself into you."

In writing the novel, Napolitano has spent much of the past 10 years researching aviation science, not to mention similar tragedies. She read extensively to create the other passengers on the flight, from an ailing billionaire octogenarian to a soldier recently returned from service. Napolitano was keen, too, not to sensationalise the tragedy, and has written about the crash and its aftermath in a measured, wholly affecting way.

"To do otherwise would simply have been disrespectful to those who had gone through a similar situation," she admits. "The pressure I put on myself in that regard was immense."

Dear Edward shot to Number 2 in the Hardcover Fiction category of the New York Times' bestseller list last month, and has become a word-of-mouth sensation. Closer to home, the book has been blurbed effusively by John Boyne and Emma Donoghue, and has been compared to the latter's novel, Room.

"I feel very grateful when writers you really respect even take the time to read it, let alone say nice things," Napolitano notes. "(Boyne's) The Heart's Invisible Furies is one of my all-time favourites, and for people to relate the book to Room that's a real case of 'I'm Done'. Nothing else I could do would possibly top it."

As to how it feels to have a potential global hit on her hands, as predicted by many in the business, Napolitano adds: "Mostly, it's interesting. I feel like I'm playing the role of an author that everyone's excited about. But I can feel that the book has a longer life in front of it than some other books might have. It's not a role I thought I'd play, so I'm curious about it."

Several interested parties have expressed a desire to option Dear Edward for the screen, and now the latest word is that it could soon be made into a TV series.

For now, Napolitano is readying herself to write Dear Edward's follow-up, after letting new characters percolate inside her head for the past year.

"Edward and Shay will be in the next book, too, although it's 10 years later and a much different story," Napolitano explains.

"I'll have to start writing soon. I write for my mental health mainly. It's just part of who I am, so I have to do it to be myself," she adds.

Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano and published by Penguin Random House is out now

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Libyan air crash: 'There was a picture of Ruben in his hospital bed. He was so beautiful and small and broken' - Belfast Telegraph