DFA places Libya under alert level 3; notes ‘improvements’

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has placed the entire Libya under a single crisis alert level 3 or voluntary repatriation. (File photo: Department of Foreign Affairs, Republic of the Philippines/Facebook)

MANILA – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has placed the entire Libya under a single crisis alert level 3 or voluntary repatriation.

The decision updates the separate alert levels imposed in 2019 on Tripoli and areas within 100-kilometer radius at alert level 4 or mandatory repatriation, and on areas outside the 100-kilometer radius at alert level 2 or restricted phase.

The DFA said that while the political and security conditions in Libya remain fragile, “there have been significant improvements in the country since 2019”.

“It is noted that Libya, despite the political divide between the east and the west, is currently not under a full-blown external attack from both sides,” it said.

“Conflicts in Libya, since 2019, are localized, sporadic, and targeted at combatants, which are not features of a large-scale civil conflict, but rather of low-intensity conflicts,” it added.

The DFA said there are ongoing efforts primarily under the auspices of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya to unite the two governments in Libya through the conduct of elections, and to unify and strengthen the country’s security apparatus.

The DFA said the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Libya, currently at around 2,300, also perceive the country as “safe and secure”.

“This perception of safety is grounded on the fact that most of the OFWs remaining in Libya are veterans of conflict, having survived the civil wars of 2011 and 2014-2020, and the fight with the Daesh that accompanied the civil wars, and have thus adapted to the instability in the country,” it said, adding that OFWs are more concerned instead with pending labor issues.

Despite this, the agency said labor cases have already decreased from 411 in 2022 to 305 as of June 2023.

The resolution of these labor cases may be attributed to the Philippine Embassy in Libya’s conduct of job site visits and labor dialogues, and representations with companies and relevant government agencies.

Even with the transfer last month of Assistance-to-Nationals functions for OFWs to the Department of Migrant Workers, the DFA reaffirms that in the absence of a resident Migrant Workers Office in Tripoli, the DFA will continue to monitor the situation and be responsible for responding to appeals for assistance of Filipinos working and residing in Libya.

“The DFA therefore views the updated Crisis Alert Level 3 imposed on Libya as an opportunity for the country to resolve the pending labor issues of the remaining OFWs, which would consequently bring about the condition for the gradual relaxation of the deployment ban through selective deployment,” it said.