TRIPOLI, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Monday that it evacuated more than 2,000 refugees and asylum-seekers from Libya in 2019.

"But nearly 1,000 asylum-seekers under the age of 18 are still languishing in Libyan detention centers," UNHCR said in a statement.

"UNHCR remains wholly reliant on countries to make available to us places for resettlement and other durable solutions to be able to assist the most vulnerable refugees in Libya," the UN Refugee Agency added.

On Friday, UNHCR said Libya has more than 46,000 registered refugees and asylum-seekers.

Thousands of illegal immigrants, mostly Africans, chose to cross the Mediterranean from Libya toward Europe because of insecurity and chaos in the North African nation following the overthrow of the former leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Enditem