Round-table "Internal and External Displacement in the EU's Southern Neighbourhood – The Case of Libya/Tunisia"

More than four years after the ousting of Muammar QADDAFI in 2011, Libya, devoid of legitimate and functioning state institutions, remains in a state of war and anarchy. The most recent UNCHR report states that more than 400,000 Libyans have been internally displaced and many more continue to seek refuge in neighbouring countries. This has been particularly challenging for Tunisia: in addition to its efforts to retain and consolidate the democratic process, authorities in Tunis are forced to respond to the uncontrolled influx of Libyan refugees and confront the potential spillover effects of the conflict that is waging beyond its eastern border.

As part of the Natolin Neighbourhood Days 2016, and in the context of the ongoing and widely debated refugee crisis, the European Neighbourhood Policy Chair organized a round-table debate devoted to the problem of internal and external displacement in the EU’s southern neighbourhood, with a particular focus on the current situation in Libya and Tunisia. The three invited speakers examined the current geopolitical situation in the region, thus discussing the root causes and consequences of both the internal and external dimension of human displacement in the context of the Libyan civil war and democratic transition in Tunisia.

Chair: Prof. Tobias SCHUMACHER, Chairholder, ENP Chair, College of Europe, Natolin campus

• Dr Anis NACROUR, Acting Head of Delegation of the EU to Syria, Damascus
• Ms Houda MZIOUDET, Tunisian journalist, commentator and researcher on Libyan and Tunisian affairs, Tunis
• Mr Anas EL GOMATI, Founder and General Director, Sadeq Institute, Tripoli