Quellenangabe:
Immigration Detention in Libya: “A Human Rights Crisis” (vom 06.09.2018),
URL: http://no-racism.net/article/5451/,
besucht am 07.10.2024
[06. Sep 2018]
The Global Detention Project published a worth reading report about the history and current situation of detention in Libya (:: PDF). Libya is notoriously perilous for refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants, who often suffer a litany of abuses, including at the country’s numerous detention facilities.
Conditions at these facilities, many of which are under the control of militias, are deplorable. There are frequent shortages of water and food; over-crowding is endemic; detainees can experience physical mistreatment and torture; forced labour and slavery are rife; and there is a stark absence of oversight and regulation. Nevertheless, Italy and the European Union continue to strike controversial migration control deals with various actors in Libya aimed at reducing flows across the Mediterranean. These arrangements include equipping Libyan farces to “rescue” intercepted migrants and refugees at sea, investing in detention centres, and paying militias to control migration.
Following the Key Concerns and the Introduction, :: download the full report as PDF here.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has characterised the plight of refugees and migrants in Libya as a “human rights crisis.”[1] Since the beginning of the 2011 civil war in Libya, the country has experienced on-going armed conflict between rival militias and government forces. The resulting lawlessness has enabled armed groups, criminal gangs, smugglers, and traffickers to control much of the flow of migrants,[2] sometimes with the direct backing of :: Italy and other European countries.[3] Those detained—who according to various reports can number between 10,000-20,000 at any given time[4]—often face severe abuses, including rape and torture, extortion, forced labour, slavery, dire living conditions, and extra-judicial execution.[5]
Among the migrants who are particularly at risk of abuse in Libya are those from sub-Saharan countries, who are subjected to widespread racism, which has been exasperated by the crisis.[6] The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has reported on the emergence of burgeoning “slave markets” along migrant routes into Libya where sub-Saharan migrants are “being sold and bought by Libyans, with the support of Ghanaians and Nigerians who work for them.”[7]
[1] United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), “UN Report Urges End to Inhuman Detention of Migrants in Libya,” http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=21023&LangID=E
[2] United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), “Remarks of SRSG Ghassan Salame to the United Nations Security Council on the situation in Libya,” 16 July 2018, https://unsmil.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/srsg-ghassan-salame-briefing-unsc-20180716.pdf; United Nations Security Council (UNSC), “Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Support Mission in Libya,” 5 September 2014, http://undocs.org/S/2014/653; United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). “UNHCR Position on Returns to Libya,” 12 November 2014, http://www.refworld.org/docid/54646a494.html; United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), “Libya Factsheet,” February 2015, www.reliefweb.int/report/libya/unhcr-factsheet-libya-february-2015; Human Rights Watch (HRW), “Libya: Whipped, Beaten, and Hung from Trees,” 22 June 2014, http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/06/22/libya-whipped-beaten-and-hung-trees; Amnesty International, “Amnesty International Report 2013: The State of the World’s Human Rights,” 23 May 2013, https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/pol10/001/2013/en/
[3] Associated Press, “Italian Effort to Stop Migrants Fuels Bloody Battle in Libya,” 5 October 2017, https://www.voanews.com/a/libya-militias-migrants-sabratha/4057716.html
[4] InfoMigrants, “Up to 10,000 Migrants in 20 Centers Under the Sun, IOM Libya,” 3 July 2018, http://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/10363/up-to-10-000-migrants-in-20-centers-under-the-sun-iom-libya; Amnesty International, “Libya’s Dark Web of Collusion: Abuses Against Europe-Bound Refugees and Migrants,” 11 December 2017, https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/MDE1975612017ENGLISH.PDF
[5] Journalist Peter Tinti, in an investigative report for Foreign Policy magazine published in October 2017,put it this way: “Eighteen months after the EU unveiled its controversial plan to curb illegal migration through Libya—now the primary point of departure for sub-Saharan Africans crossing the Mediterranean Sea to Europe—migrants have become a commodity to be captured, sold, traded, and leveraged. Regardless of their immigration status, they are hunted down by militias loyal to Libya’s U.N.-backed government, caged in overcrowded prisons, and sold on open markets that human rights advocates have likened to slave auctions. They have been tortured, raped, and killed— abuses that are sometimes broadcast online by the abusers themselves as they attempt to extract ransoms from migrants’ families.” See: P. Tinti, “Nearly There, but Never Further Away,” Foreign Policy, 5 October 2017, http://europeslamsitsgates.foreignpolicy.com/part-3-nearly-there-but-never-further-away-libya-africa-europe-EU-militias-migration
[6] Al Jazeera, “Libya: The Migrant Trap,” 8 May 2014, http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/peopleandpower/2014/05/libya-migrant-trap-20145483310400633.html; R. Seymour, “Libya's Spectacular Revolution has been Disgraced by Racism,” The Guardian, 30 August 2011, http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/aug/30/libya-spectacular-revolution-disgraced-racism
[7] International Organisation for Migration (IOM), “IOM Learns of 'Slave Market' Conditions Endangering Migrants in North Africa,” 4 November 2017, https://www.iom.int/news/iom-learns-slave-market-conditions-endangering-migrants-north-africa
[8] The Office of the Prosecutor, “Fifteenth Report of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to the United Nations Security Council Pursuant to UNSCR 1979 (2011),” International Criminal Court, 9 May 2018; United Nations Security Council (UNSC), “Report of the Security-General on the United Nations Support Mission in Libya,” 22 August 2017, https://unsmil.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/n1725784.pdf
[9] International Criminal Court (ICC), “Eleventh Report of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to the United Nations Security Council Pursuant to UNSCR 1970 (2011),” 26 May 2016, https://www.icc-cpi.int/Pages/item.aspx?name=otp_report_lib_26052016
[10] P. Fargues (ed.), “EU Neighbourhood Migration Report 2013,” European University Institute, Migration Policy Centre, 2013, http://www.migrationpolicycentre.eu/migration-report/; A. Di Bartolomeo, T. Jaulin, and D. Perrin, “CARIM – Migration Profile Libya,” Consortium for Applied Research on International Migration (CARIM), June 2011, http://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/22438
[11] International Organisation for Migration (IOM), “Report of the Director General on the Work of the Organization for the Year 2011,” June 2012, http://governingbodies.iom.int/system/files/jahia/webdav/shared/shared/mainsite/about_iom/en/council/101/MC_2346.pdf
[12] Amnesty International, “Libya’s Dark Web of Collusion: Abuses Against Europe-Bound Refugees and Migrants,” 11 December 2017, https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/MDE1975612017ENGLISH.PDF
[13] United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), “UNHCR Flash Update: Libya, 20-27 July 2018,” 27 July 2018, https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/UNHCR%20Libya%20Flash%20Update%2027%20July%202018.pdf; United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), “Operational Portal: Mediterranean Situation,” http://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/mediterranean/location/5205
[14] International Organisation for Migration (IOM), “Libya,” Displacement Tracking Mechanism (DTM), June 2018, http://www.globaldtm.info/libya/
[15] European Commission (EC), “Annex of the Commission Implementing Decision on the Annual Action Programme for 2013 (Part 2) in Favour of Libya [C(2013) 9196 final]. Action Fiche for Support to Rights-Based Migration Management and Asylum System in Libya,” December 2013, https://bit.ly/2KA4XzW; Danish Refugee Council and Danish Demining Group (DRC/DDG), “2014: Strategic Programme Document – DRC/DDG in Libya and Tunisia,” https://drc.ngo/media/1194589/libya-tunisia-strategic-programme-document-2014.pdf
[16] H. Van Aelst, “The Humanitarian Consequences of European Union Immigration Policy’s Externalisation in Libya: The Case of Detention and its Impact on Migrants’ Health,” BSIS Journal of International Studies, Vol. 8, 2011 University of Kent, Brussels School of International Studies, 2011, https://www.kent.ac.uk/brussels/
[17] Human Rights Watch (HRW), “Libya: Whipped, Beaten, and Hung from Trees,” 22 June 2014, http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/06/22/libya-whipped-beaten-and-hung-trees; Amnesty International, “Amnesty International Report 2013. The State of the World’s Human Rights,” 23 May 2013, https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/pol10/001/2013/en/; Council of the European Union (CEC),”Council Conclusions on Libya. Foreign Affairs Council meeting 20 October 2014,” October 2014, http://www.consilium.europa.eu/media/25118/145200.pdf; C. Malmström, “Answer Given by Ms Malmström on Behalf of the Commission,” European Parliament, 12 June 2014, http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getAllAnswers.do?reference=E-2014-002692&language=EN
[18] European Union, “Factsheet: EU-Libya Relations,” 22 January 2018, https://eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/headquarters-homepage_en/19163/EU-Libya%20relations,%20factsheet; P. Tinti, “Nearly There, but Never Further Away,” Foreign Policy, 5 October 2017, https://bit.ly/2fUztGs
[19] Anonymous source (representative from international human rights group), Skype call with Tom Rollins (Global Detention Project), May 2018.
[20] Associated Press, “Italian Effort to Stop Migrants Fuels Bloody Battle in Libya,” 5 October 2017, https://www.voanews.com/a/libya-militias-migrants-sabratha/4057716.html
[21] United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, “UN Human Rights Chief: Suffering of Migrants in Libya Outrage to Conscience of Humanity,” 14 November 2017, http://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=22393&LangID=E
[22] B. Riegert, “Libya Takes Over from Italy on Rescuing Shipwrecked Migrants,” Deutsche Welle, 5 July 2018, https://www.dw.com/en/libya-takes-over-from-italy-on-rescuing-shipwrecked-migrants/a-44546754
[23] InfoMigrants, “Salvini calls for migrants to go back to Libya,” 17 July 2018, http://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/10685/salvini-calls-for-migrants-to-go-back-to-libya
[24] P. Tinti, “Nearly There, but Never Further Away,” Foreign Policy, 5 October 2017, http://europeslamsitsgates.foreignpolicy.com/part-3-nearly-there-but-never-further-away-libya-africa-europe-EU-militias-migration
[25] O. Belbesi, “Returned to Libyan Shores and Held in Detention Centres: What are the Practical Alternatives?” IOM Libya/Reuters, 18 August 2018, https://news.trust.org/item/20180816142408-bats4/
[26] P. Tinti, “Nearly There, but Never Further Away,” Foreign Policy, 5 October 2017, http://europeslamsitsgates.foreignpolicy.com/part-3-nearly-there-but-never-further-away-libya-africa-europe-EU-militias-migration
[27] O. Belbesi, “Returned to Libyan Shores and Held in Detention Centres: What are the Practical Alternatives?” IOM Libya/Reuters, 18 August 2018, https://news.trust.org/item/20180816142408-bats4/
[28] M. Flynn, “Kidnapped, Trafficked, Detained? The Implications of Non-state Actor Involvement in Immigration Detention,” Journal on Migration and Human Security, 2017, http://cmsny.org/publications/jmhs-kidnapped-trafficked-detained/