Several United Nations (UN) experts raised concerns Friday over an incident in Libya where 120 migrants and refugees were allegedly taken to an undisclosed location and were then detained without legal counsel. The experts sent a letter in May apprising the Libyan government of their concerns.
The experts alleged that the migrants were released from a warehouse where they were being detained by traffickers and immediately taken by Libyan authorities to an undisclosed location where they were at risk of “further serious human rights violations, including acts tantamount to enforced disappearance.” The experts went on to allege:
This is not an isolated incident, and we are very concerned about the situation of many more migrants and refugees, including victims of trafficking, who have also been transferred to detention centres where no humanitarian agencies, lawyers or civil society organisations have been granted access.
The experts claimed that the Libyan authorities have been lax in their response to these issues, despite being informed in May, saying, “We are troubled by the Libyan authorities’ delay in responding to concerns about trafficking in migrants and refugees and other serious human rights violations, including arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, torture and sexual violence.”
The UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Libya raised similar concerns about the treatment of migrants in its March report, saying,”[T]he Mission found that crimes against humanity were committed against migrants in places of detention under the actual or nominal control of Libya’s Directorate for Combating Illegal Migration, the Libyan Coast Guard and the Stability Support Apparatus.” In 2021, Amnesty International (AI) released a report alleging that not only have Libyan authorities been consistently mistreating migrants, but multiple European countries have encouraged “migration policies enabling Libyan coastguards to intercept men, women and children attempting to flee to safety by crossing the Mediterranean Sea and forcibly return them to Libya.” The same year, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), also known as Doctors without Borders, withdrew operations from two Libyan government detention centers for refugees and migrants due to recurring violence and human rights abuses.
Libya has become a waystation for many migrants and refugees fleeing famine and conflict in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly Sudan. Libya’s access to the Mediterranean makes it a popular location for migrants and refugees to attempt to begin the boat journey to Europe seeking safety. However, AI has alleged that since 2016 European countries have enacted policies that have trapped migrants and refugees in Libya by funding the Libyan coastguard allowing them to bring back those seeking to leave and detain them, delays in assisting migrants who are endangered by maritime emergencies and penalizing private organizations who attempt to rescue or assist migrants. As of 2020, there are 625,638 migrants and refugees in Libya.
