From one Libya to Another: The Unexpected Place of Lawin Approaching Migration

Abstract

Migration was one of Qaddafi’s key diplomatic instruments, and for Libyan stakeholders today it remains a bargaining chip. While Libya in Qaddafi’s era was considered ‘rogue’ and the new Libya is seen as a place without rule, the law has been used to orientate migrations, to a greater degree than in other countries of the region. The prolific, specific, and ideology-based law Qaddafi developed over twenty years to support Libya’s migration diplomacy and policy has been standardised and adapted to global norms since the beginning of the 2000s, with a focus on combating irregular migration. Henceforth taken only as a transit area, the ‘new Libya’ has accentuated this line and engaged more deeply with external partners, intensifying mechanisms to retain migrants upstream of the Mediterranean and experimenting platforming migration management in the Sahel.