The International Organization for Migration (IOM) expressed profound concern on Friday over the discovery of 65 migrant bodies in mass graves in Libya’s southwest region. According to the UN migration organization, the migrants may have died while being smuggled across the desert. This grim finding adds to the tally of 3,129 deaths and disappearances recorded along the Mediterranean route by the Missing Migrants Project in 2023.

“Each report of a missing migrant or a loss of life represents a grieving family searching for answers about their loved ones or acknowledging the tragedy of the loss,” an IOM spokesperson said. “The cost of inadequate action is evident in the increasing human deaths and the disturbing conditions migrants find themselves in.”

The criminal investigations body in Libya revealed that before reburying the unidentified migrants in pre-designated graves, DNA samples were taken from them for analysis and further investigations.

Libya is home to 705,746 migrants from over 44 different countries, of which 5,000 are detained in government-run facilities, according to a study by the IOM Displacement Tracking Matrix. The IOM Libya Crisis Prevention Plan 2024 underlines the critical role of poor governance and lax adherence to the rule of law in continuing migrant rights violations in the nation. According to the plan, many migrants face exploitation, violence and unjustified incarceration.

In addition, IOM reported 1,256 persons missing at sea and 947 deaths along the central Mediterranean migration route after leaving Libya between January 1 and November 25, 2023. More than 900 African migrants were sent by Tunisia to a buffer zone along the border between Tunisia and Libya in July. Over 150 of these migrants were then sent to Libya, where they were subject to imprisonment and deportation. Since the start of these expulsions, at least 27 dead have been found close to the border, according to reports from Libyan officials in August.

The mass grave discovery follows a Security Council assembly in February where the UN and representatives from various nations voiced alarm over escalating human rights abuses against migrants, asylum seekers and refugees in Libya. The head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) and Special Representative for Libya, Abdoulaye Bathily, brought attention to the fact that more than 60 people, including minors, had been unlawfully imprisoned by Libyan security forces. He called on Libyan authorities to ensure full and unhindered access for those in need of protection and to carry out unbiased inquiries into all allegations of abuses and violations in detention centers.