Libya: Protect migrants, refugees, asylum seekers from torture and ill-treatment

The OMCT and the Libyan Anti-Torture Network welcome the report of the Fact-Finding Mission on Libya.

We are extremely troubled by the opening in early 2022 of two new detention centers for migrants in Tripoli, despite documented evidence of serious human rights violations being carried out in similar facilities across the country.

We are deeply concerned about the expansion of the Stability Support Apparatus’ mandate which will include managing detention centers and sending migrants that have been intercepted at sea to remote, informal detention locations in the Al Mayah area. These detention locations, which fall outside the jurisdiction of the Department for Combating Illegal Immigration, are inaccessible to local and international humanitarian organizations.

The Libyan Anti-Torture Network gathered numerous testimonies of torture and other human rights violations that occurred in these detention locations, where it has been reported that thousands of migrants of different nationalities, including women and children, are being held in inhuman conditions.

We call on Libya to take all necessary steps to protect migrants, refugees and asylum seekers from torture and other ill-treatment including by private militias; guarantee access to detention centers for humanitarian organizations; immediately release the most vulnerable groups of migrants, especially children; and hold accountable those responsible for human rights violations.

We call on the international community to suspend all cooperation with the Government of Libya pending its full compliance with international human rights and international humanitarian law.

Thank you.