Refugees and migrants in Libya face rape, unlawful killings, according to new Amnesty International report

Amnesty International has published a report detailing the abuses migrants face in Libya, stating that “tens of thousands of refugees and migrants are trapped in a vicious cycle of cruelty with little to no hope of finding safe and legal pathways out.”

The report ‘Between life and death’: Refugees and migrants trapped in Libya’s cycle of abuse, documents the accounts of refugees and migrants who have suffered or witnessed a litany of abuses in Libya, which Amnesty International says include “unlawful killings; enforced disappearances; torture and other ill-treatment; rape and other sexual violence; arbitrary detention; and forced labour and exploitation at the hands of state and non-state actors in a climate of near-total impunity.”

To investigate the ongoing situation of refugees and migrants in Libya, Amnesty International conducted interviews with 43 individuals, it said, in addition to reviewing official documents, statements and social media accounts managed by Libyan institutions and reports and data issued by UN bodies and others.

“Those interviewed include 32 refugees and migrants who had lived in Libya or were living there at the time of writing, selected on the basis of their willingness to share their experiences.”

The report reads that between January and mid-September 2020, the Libyan Coast Guard disembarked at least 8,435 people in Libya according to the International Organization for Migration. It mentions that many had been handed over to the Directorate for Combating Illegal Migration (DCIM), under the ministry of interior, “which placed them in centres where they have been subjected to arbitrary and indefinite detention in inhumane conditions. Thousands more remain subjected to enforced disappearance, after their transfer to unofficial detention facilities.”

The report reads that refugees and migrants in Libya are at “constant risk” of arrest or abduction by security forces, members of militias and armed groups, traffickers, criminal gangs and others engaged in criminal activities. “All 32 refugees and migrants interviewed in preparation for this report have been arrested or abducted at least once during their stay in Libya, and many have spent time behind bars in multiple detention facilities. None of the arrests documented by Amnesty International were based on judicial decisions, and those detained, including following disembarkation, had no possibility to challenge the legality of their detention. All 32 refugees and migrants interviewed for this report were also held for ransom at least once, and were tortured, raped or starved until their families secured funds.”

One interviewee mentioned in the report was “Dawit”, a refugee who the NGO says escaped “indefinite forced conscription in his country of origin and sought to reach Europe after suffering a catalogue of abuses in Libya since 2017.” He recounted his ordeal of being captured by a militia affiliated to the GNA in July 2020, the report reads. “For 15 days, they beat us with iron rods, they beat us with hoses, they beat us with anything they have. They ask us to pay 6,000 Libyan dinars [around $4,400 at the official rate or around $940 at the market rate] for each, whether an adult or a baby.”

Amnesty International said that former detainees held in DCIM detention centres in western Libya whom the NGO interviewed spent between 15 days and nearly three years behind bars. “The length of their detention generally depended on their ability to pay ransom or escape.”

The NGO “found that officials, members of militias and armed groups and traffickers systematically subjected refugees and migrants to inhumane conditions of detention, torture and other ill-treatment, forced labour and other acts of violence. Such crimes were documented at official DCIM detention centres, prisons, nominally under the ministries of justice or interior, and unofficial facilities controlled by militias or armed groups or run by traffickers.”

The NGO said that women and girls were at heightened risk of sexual violence and exploitation. “Perpetrators, including DCIM officials, tortured and otherwise ill-treated those in their custody to punish and humiliate them or to extract ransom money. Former detainees told Amnesty International that DCIM guards would regularly beat them for complaining about their conditions, ‘talking back’ or sometimes for no apparent reason at all.”

Ikenna, a refugee who fled violence in Nigeria, told Amnesty International that guards at a DCIM centre broke his leg in March 2020 “just for fun”, the report continued.

Seven refugees and migrants, allegedly held between 2017 and 2020 at DCIM detention centres, told Amnesty International they witnessed several deaths in custody of friends, family members or other detainees. “Eight refugees and migrants interviewed said they witnessed one or multiple deaths, while being held by traffickers between 2017 and 2020. Witnesses cited gun violence, torture, starvation, denial of medical care and generally poor conditions of detention as causes of death. In a particularly egregious crime, on 27 May 2020, traffickers in the town of Mazda, 180km south of the capital Tripoli, shot at a group of about 200 refugees and migrants, killing 30 and injuring another 11. In another incident documented by Amnesty International, in July 2020 security forces in the city of al-Khums, 100km west of Tripoli, opened fire at a group of unarmed refugees and migrants attempting to flee detention, leading to three deaths and two injuries.”

The NGO highlighted that, even when free from detention, refugees and migrants are also vulnerable to systemic abuse and exploitation by armed groups and militias, and others engaged in criminal activity. “They are unable to seek protection from exploitation by unscrupulous employers, who frequently refuse to pay them wages or pay lower amounts than promised. Even when paid, they are vulnerable to being robbed by armed men in the street or at home. They live under constant threat of being forced to work, predominantly in cleaning and construction, for militias and armed groups for little or no money.”

A migrant, “Zahra” told Amnesty International: “The women work as housekeepers, but they often leave work after a few days due to the sexual harassment and rape. They are afraid of working in Libyan houses.”

The report also mentions Italy and Malta as being two countries who are ‘ keen’ on cooperating with Libya to prevent sea arrivals, “regardless of the human rights consequences.”

In Malta’s case, it states that the “Maltese authorities were implicated in multiple failures to respect and protect the rights of refugees and migrants at sea, in a clear attempt to further outsource control of the central Mediterranean to Libyan authorities. Under Maltese co-ordination, people were pushed back to Libya, left stranded at sea in danger of drowning, and unlawfully detained for weeks on board private vessels meant for brief pleasure cruises.”