Following a spate of deadly shipwrecks of the coast of Libya, the UN refugee agency has announced that it has set up a forum to improve the country's response to boats in distress its waters by streamlining information sharing and coordination with international organizations. "We hope the new contact group will boost Libya's ability to save lives, collect bodies at sea or along the coast and improve the humanitarian care of the rescued on disembarkation," said Leo Dobbs, spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) at a Geneva press briefing on Tuesday. The contact group - including Libyan officials responsible for search and rescue, border security and detention centres for rescued or intercepted boat people - was established at a recent workshop organized in Tunis by UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The group will convene at least three times over the coming nine months to discuss how to minimize refugee and migrant deaths during the Mediterranean crossing. Funded by the European Union (EU), it will also provide training in areas such as information management, body retrieval and identification of refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants.
