(Ecofin Agency) - The French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (OFPRA) has auditioned, between November 15 and 18, in Niger, migrants evacuated from Libya. The process aimed at initiating the procedure to grant asylum to all those that need one after suffering human rights abuses, rape, torture, arbitrary detention in Libya…
The audition in Niamey follows another that was conducted in Chad, last October.
In Niger, a total of 72 migrants were auditioned. Among those, 47 were selected, in addition to 25 migrants from Sudan and Eritrea also evacuated from Libya (all following the release of the video report showing migrants being sold as slaves in the country). According to Pascal Brice, OFPRA’s director, the first migrants will be relocated in France if they are cleared by the French ministry of Interior, by January 2018.
In October, around 240 Central Africans and Sudanese were auditioned in Chad.
France says it wishes to receive about 3,000 asylum seekers, from Niger and Chad, by 2019.