Advocates, Implementers or Allies? NGOs between Humanitarian Borderwork and Migration Management in Libya

ABSTRACT

This article explores the complex terrain non-government organisations (NGOs) navigate when working in humanitarian borderwork on migration management programs in transit sites. Drawing on the example of Libya it shows the scope and challenges for NGOs working in transit sites and aims to advance understanding of what it means to work within migration management structures. International and local NGOs and CSOs are deeply involved in migration management programs often as implementing partners to UN agencies and in receipt of sizeable grants. This article illustrates how NGOs in Libya, one of the most prominent transit sites, navigate their dual roles as migration managers and humanitarian actors. It draws on desk-based research, policy analysis and interviews conducted with Libyans actors working on migration alongside observations from the author based on their first-hand field experience in Libya that demonstrates the in-between relationship that has resulted in NGOs becoming advocates, implementers and allies. It highlights a gap in research about the intersection between humanitarian borderwork and migration management in transit sites, the importance of understanding the particularity of the transit context and the implications of this work for NGOs in general given the growing demands to work in transit sites within migration management schemes.

KEYWORDS:

• Libya
• migration management
• NGOs
• irregular migration
• central Mediterranean
• humanitarianism

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank the two reviewers and fellow guest editors for their insightful review, which helped to improve the quality of this paper.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/12/at-least-19-migrants-missing-after-boat-capsizes-off-coast-of-libya. https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210930-libya-niger-discuss-irregular-migration-crisis/.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Melissa Phillips

Melissa Phillips is a Lecturer in the School of Social Sciences at Western Sydney University. Her research interests include migration, mobility, displacement and refugee settlement. Her latest book is Phillips, M., & Olliff, L. (eds). Understanding Diaspora Development: Lessons from Australia and the Pacific (Palgrave Macmillan 2022).