Libyan authorities detained at least 5,000 migrants in detention centers over the weekend, the UN reports. Among the migrants are at least 200 children and dozens of pregnant women. The numbers could rise further in the coming days.
Homes of migrants were raided, after which they were mistreated and taken to the relief camps. One migrant was shot dead and fifteen migrants were injured.
According to the UN, the Libyan government is guilty of human rights violations and possibly war crimes and crimes against humanity. Violence is widely used in detention centres, the UN researchers report. Libyan militias are said to be guilty of, among other things, torturing, raping and killing migrants.
The researchers also report that the Libyan coastguard treats migrants badly. The coastguard is trained by the European Union with the aim of stopping migrants in the Mediterranean. According to Doctors Without Borders (AzG), the coastguard has intercepted and detained 14,000 people at sea this year alone.
‘A hopeless existence for migrants’
In June, MSF announced to quit their job in detention centers in the coastal city of Tripoli, because the migrants are held there in unacceptable conditions. “Over time, disproportionate force was increasingly used against the detainees, making it impossible for us to work safely there,” said Akke Boere, director of operations, earlier in the report. NPO Radio 1 News.
Since last week, MSF has been active in the country again to provide medical assistance, after the authorities promised to improve the situation. “You have to imagine that the situation in these centers is still very bad,” said Boere. “These people have a hopeless existence. They are locked up, while in principle they are entitled to an asylum procedure to see where they can go.”
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