An estimated 700,000 migrants are currently held in Libyan detention centers where human rights violations are commonplace. The European Union’s backing of these facilities is drawing criticism from the international community.
by Rebecca Canak
April 2019
“I can honestly tell the members of this Council that in 30 years in this line of work, those were among the most harrowing accounts I have ever heard.” Speaking at the Palais des Nations in Geneva on 21 March 2019, Andrew Gilmour, the United Nations’ Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, expressed his concerns over Libyan detention centers. And he is not alone: the Women’s Refugee Commission and the African Union have similarly described the ‘unimaginable horrors’ that await all migrants who enter.
Personal accounts of those who had been freed from detention almost unanimously account rape, electrocution, and other forms of torture against men, women, and children alike. Testimonies also depict explicit scenes of extortion in which migrants are subjected to torture until their family members pay a ransom. Only those with large sums of money are able to escape the worst of the cruelty.
While traffickers, smugglers, members of armed rebel groups, and Libyan government officials are directly responsible for these flagrant human rights violations, the European Union has increasingly come under fire for its involvement in these atrocities.
In February 2017, the EU signed an agreement with Libya in an effort to curb migration from North Africa into Italy.
The deal impels the Libyan capital of Tripoli to block migrants from leaving its shores while the EU agrees to provide support for the Libyan coastguard.
The effects of this deal have been devastating. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees reports over 15,000 people had been forced to return to Libya in 2018 alone, with several thousands of them being sold into slavery. Since its signing, over 5,300 migrants fleeing to Italy from Libya have died on the Mediterranean, making it the deadliest sea in the world.
International response to these reports have been widespread among human rights organizations, with multiple state and non-state actors accusing the EU of being ‘complicit in tragedy’. In a joint letter signed by Oxfam and 43 other aid organizations across Europe, the NGOs have urged the EU to end their deal with the Libyan coastguard and stop sending migrants back to inhumane Libyan detention centers.
In addition, the letter revealed that several EU countries had deliberately blocked search and rescue teams on the Mediterranean by preventing ships from leaving ports. UN Assistant Secretary-General Gilmour has called upon the EU to end these restrictions and allow NGOs to once again operate rescue missions at sea.
Libya’s reaction to these accusations has been impenitent at best, with the country’s Charge d’affaires Adel Shaltut arguing that Libya has made major contributions in assisting migrants to safety. Human rights violations at these detention centers are being framed as an inevitable consequence of illegal migrant status with no clear strategy in place to prevent current or future abuses.
Unfortunately, while these incidences of violence and exploitation are among the most harrowing, they are far from unique to Libya with over 2,100 detention centers worldwide. According to the World Health Organization, there are roughly 65 million people around the world today who have been forcibly displaced from their homes due to poverty, persecution, armed conflict, and other reasons. It is a reminder of the disturbing paradigm of human cruelty and the global culpability we all face in the permittance of these crimes against the world’s most vulnerable.
While the refugee crisis remains a hot topic in international discourse, the European Union has yet to respond to the criticism directed its way. With Oxfam’s letter dated in January of this year, it may be too early to tell when, how, or if the EU will claim any responsibility and reverse their agreement with the Libyan coastguard. But continued and active pressure from the international community would significantly impact its decision.
For more on this topic, check out:
Al Jazeera. (2019). Complicit in tragedy: EU urged to end migrant returns to Libya.
Gilmour, Andrew. (2019). Oral update of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on Libya pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 37/41.
Kakissis, J. (2018). A U.N. migration pact is dividing Europe. Oxfam. (2019). Open letter on search and rescue.
Rebecca Canak is a graduate student in Webster University’s Global International Relations program, where she is earning her MA while studying in the Netherlands, Thailand, Ghana, Austria, and Switzerland. She attributes her interest in international affairs to growing up in the U.S. - Mexico border town of El Paso, Texas. Following a degree in Creative Writing and Global Studies, she spent three years traveling around Southeast Asia and South America as a freelance writer and ESL teacher. Her areas of interest include education, the refugee crisis, and women’s rights.
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