Libyan authorities deported 24 Egyptian migrants from Misrata to Egypt on Monday as part of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) voluntary return scheme.
The programme puts migrants stranded in Libya on flights back to their home countries.
Hundreds of thousands of migrants have travelled to Libya before attempting the voyage across the Mediterranean Sea towards Europe in recent years.
There are some 700 000 to one million migrants in Libya, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) says on its website, mainly coming from Egypt, Niger, Sudan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Syria, and Mali.
“Migrants presently experience extreme insecurity in Libya, including arbitrary arrest by non-state actors, detention for indefinite periods of time, bonded labour, harassment and general exploitation,” the IOM says.
Some 166 000 migrants have crossed the Mediterranean Sea so far in 2017, with around 3 000 dying in the attempt, the IOM says, a sharp drop in the numbers during 2016.
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