ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is set to repatriate 33 more people from Libya who had gone missing after trying to illegally reach Europe, the interior ministry said Wednesday.

In July, Bakr Ali, head of the Association of Returned Refugees, told The New Region that a gang had kidnapped a group of young people after eight were rescued.

One of the survivors said they were subjected to humiliation, beatings, and threats of having their kidneys removed.

After news of the Kurds going missing emerged, Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani ordered the interior ministry and the Department of Foreign Relations (DFR) to “urgently” locate, rescue, and return them.

“All procedures pertaining to the 33 citizens have now been completed, and they will be returned to the Kurdistan Region next week,” the KRG interior ministry said in a statement on Wednesday, urging the people to avoid “illegal and irregular migration routes to Western countries.”

Many Kurdish youth travel to Libya in a bid to enter Europe illegally and are frequently repatriated to the Kurdistan Region while many are either arrested or abducted.

The KRG in July 2025, announced that they were notified of at least 17 Kurdish migrants having gone missing in Libya, but could not confirm if they were arrested or abducted.

“This type of migration not only endangers their lives but also results in legal violations in other countries followed by severe legal consequences, similar to the difficult situation these young people faced in the past, when some of them spent up to 8 months in prisons, continuously facing life-threatening dangers during that period,” the ministry said.

So far, the KRG has repatriated 302 migrants “from various situations,” and the latest batch of returnees are set to arrive in the Kurdistan Region “within the coming days,” it added.

Many migrants trekking the perilous journey to Europe use the Libyan waterways to reach Italy through smuggling routes, often using boats that are not seaworthy and are prone to capsizing in the Mediterranean Sea.

The Iraqi government has routinely warned of the dangers of illegal migration, with Libya having gained popularity in recent years as a major transit hub on the journey to Europe.

Over 700,000 migrants were registered in Libya last year, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

In November, the IOM said more than 1,000 people had died trying to reach Europe through the Central Mediterranean migration route in 2025.