Detention centers in Libya
Part of Libyan Crisis (2011-present) and the European migrant crisis
Map of Libya
LocationLibya
Organized byIslamist militias, smuggling gangs, Libyan Coast Guard
Migrants in Libya700,000 (2018)
Migrants in detention5,000 (2021)

Detention centres in Libya are criminal enterprises run by gangs of human traffickers and kidnappers for profit. Lawlessness in Libya has resulted in circumstances where criminals gangs abduct and detain people who are migrating to or through Libya. 5,000 migrants are held in dozens of camps that are mostly located around Bani Walid. Detainees often suffer torture and may face execution if their family do not pay ransoms to the gangs.

European governments who reject asylum seekers arriving by boat create circumstances where people are vulnerable to the activities of the gangs who run the detention centres. The detention centres have been publicly condemned by Pope Francis and Médecins Sans Frontières. Criticisms of the centres were contained in leaked documents from the German government. The United Nations Security Council called upon the Libyan authorities to close the centres in 2022.

Background

An underground prison in Libya.

Since the 2011 death of leader Muammar Gaddafi, Libya has become a route for migrants and refugees making their way to Europe.[1][2] In 2014, armed conflict exacerbated lawlessness in Libya creating conditions where gangs can abduct migrants and detain them in camps with relative impunity.[3] In 2018 there were approximately 700,000 migrants in Libya,[4] and in 2021 there were more than 5,000 in detention centres.[5]

The financial success of the camps is bolstered by a European Union funded effort to return migrants on boats to Libya.[3][2][6] In 2018, Médecins Sans Frontières described "kidnapping for ransom" as a thriving business and criticized European Union-sponsored policies to deter refugees and migrants from traveling to Europe.[7]

Operations

The camps are run by Islamist militias, smuggling gangs, and the Libyan Coast Guard, which itself works outside the normal context of an institutionalized control of a formal central government guidance while being usurped by different local milita leaders [8][4][6]

After migrants are abducted, detention center staff telephone the prisoners' families to demand ransoms.[9] Detainees from Chad, South Sudan,[9] Syria, Ghana, Sudan, Niger, and Nigeria suffer violence including beatings, rape, torture, starvation, and murder in the camps.[10][4][3][9] Some people are held for over three years.[1] Those whose family do not pay ransoms may be killed.[9][4] A 2017 German diplomatic report stated that anyone who does not pay within a set period of time is executed. It quoted witnesses who spoke of precisely five executions every week, every Friday, scheduled to make space for new incoming abductees.[4]

The value of ransom payments vary, with known examples ranging between 2,500 Libyan dinars (US$500) and 25,000 dinars (US$5,000).[9][6]

Detention facilities are centred around Bani Walid[3] where there are approximately 20 camps including Bani Walid detention camp.[1] Al Mabani centre, which opened in January 2021, is located in Tripoli and detains approximately 1,500 abductees.[6] The Triq al-Sika detention centre is located in Tripoli.[9] The Tajoura Detention Center is located 16 kilometres east of Tripoli.[11] The Al Nasr centre, also known informally as the "Osama prison," is located in Zawiyah.[2]

Events at detention centres

Escapes

In May 2018, many prisoners at Bani Walid detention center tried to escape, with most being recaptured or shot.[7] In April 2021, more than 20 detainees escaped from a camp south of Bani Walid.[12]

Tajoura centre airstrike

On 2 July 2019 at 23:30,[13] during the 2019–20 Western Libya campaign, an airstrike hit the Tajoura Detention Center, outside Tripoli, while hundreds of people were inside the facility.[14] 53 people died[15] and over 130 were injured.[16]

Tripoli homicides and mass abduction

In January 2022, over 600 migrants and asylum seekers were violently attacked outside the location of a former United Nations development center.[17] Several people will killed in the attack, while most were subsequently imprisoned in Ain Zara detention center in Tripoli.[17] The events prompted condemnation from the Norwegian Refugee Council and the International Rescue Committee.[17] The events were praised by Abdul Hamid Dbeibah.[17]

Criticisms and prosecutions of centre leaders

A leaked 2017 report from Germany’s Foreign Ministry detailed human rights abuses, and photographic evidence of "concentration camp like conditions.”[4] In 2018, Médecins Sans Frontières condemned arbitrary detention of people and spoke out about the need for protection and humanitarian aid.”[4] In 2019, following the 2019 Tajoura migrant centre airstrike a joint statement from the International Organization for Migration and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees called for "an immediate end to detention of migrants and refugees."[14]

Human Rights Watch accused the European Union of "contributing to a cycle of extreme abuse" for its cooperation with authorities in Libya, and wrote that "The EU is providing support to the Libyan Coast Guard to enable it to intercept migrants and asylum seekers at sea after which they take them back to Libya to arbitrary detention, where they face inhuman and degrading conditions and the risk of torture, sexual violence, extortion, and forced labor."[18]

In 2021, Pope Francis was critical of the camps, the "inhuman violence," and the policies that fuel them.[19][10] In July 2022, the United Nations Security Council adopted resolution number 2647 which encouraged the Libyan authorities to close detention centres.[20]

An Italian court found smuggler Osman Matammud, from Somalia, guilty of multiple counts of murder, abduction and rape.[21][22] Osama Al Kuni Ibrahim was sanctioned by the United Nations in 2021 after he was accused by US authorities of “systematic exploitation of African migrants at the detention centre” at the Al Nasr centre."[2]

In July 2022 the British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office called for all detention centres to be closed.[23]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Over 100 migrants escape from Libya trafficking camp". News24. Archived from the original on 2021-11-14. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Libyan smuggling kingpin sanctioned over detention centre abuse". The National. 27 October 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-11-14. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Lewis, Aiden (27 April 2018). "Suffering for migrants in Libya 'worse' since fall-off in sea crossings". Reuters. Archived from the original on 14 November 2021. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Libyan militias shoot 15 dead after mass escape from migrant torture camp". World Socialist Web Site. 4 June 2018. Archived from the original on 2021-11-14. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
  5. ↑ Hayden, Sally. "Thousands of refugees and migrants plead for Libya evacuation". www.aljazeera.com. Archived from the original on 2021-11-14. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "The Secretive Prisons That Keep Migrants Out of Europe". The New Yorker. 2021-11-23. Retrieved 2021-12-24.
  7. 1 2 "East African migrants escape from captors in Libyan smuggling hub". Reuters. 2018-05-25. Archived from the original on 2021-11-14. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
  8. ↑ "[On board with SOS Méditerranée] Libyan police lieutenant: 'Coast guard are smugglers'". EUobserver. 5 July 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-11-14. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Libyan migrant detention centre: 'It's like hell'". BBC News. 2017-09-07. Archived from the original on 2021-11-14. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
  10. 1 2 "Pope: Don't send migrants back to Libya and 'inhumane' camps". AP NEWS. 2021-10-24. Archived from the original on 2021-11-14. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
  11. ↑ Walsh, Declan (2019-07-03). "Airstrike Kills Dozens of Migrants at Detention Center in Libya". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2020-12-17. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
  12. ↑ "20 Migrants Escape Libyan Detention Camp in Bani Walid". LibyaReview. 2021-04-17. Archived from the original on 2021-11-14. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
  13. ↑ "Deadly Libya Bombing May Be War Crime". VOA. 3 July 2019. Archived from the original on 2021-11-14. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
  14. 1 2 "Airstrike On Migrant Detention Center In Libya Kills At Least 44 People". NPR.org. Archived from the original on 2019-07-04. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
  15. ↑ "Libyan migrants 'fired upon after fleeing air strikes'". BBC News. 2019-07-04. Archived from the original on 2019-12-02. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
  16. ↑ "Airstrike kills 44 migrants in Libyan detention center". AP NEWS. 4 July 2019. Archived from the original on 2021-11-14. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
  17. 1 2 3 4 Rickett, Oscar (10 Jan 2022). "Hundreds of migrants and refugees attacked and detained by Libyan authorities". Middle East Eye. Archived from the original on 2022-01-10. Retrieved 2022-01-15.
  18. ↑ "No Escape from Hell: EU Policies Contribute to Abuse of Migrants in Libya". Human Rights Watch. 2019-01-21. Archived from the original on 2023-05-18. Retrieved 2023-07-10.
  19. ↑ Pullella, Philip (2021-10-24). "Don't send migrants back to unsafe countries, pope says, citing Libya". Reuters. Archived from the original on 2021-11-14. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
  20. ↑ Mohamed, Hasanain (2022-07-30). "Security Council Demands Closure of Migrant Detention Centers in Libya". LibyaReview. Archived from the original on 2022-08-01. Retrieved 2022-08-01.
  21. ↑ Squires, Nick (2017-10-10). "Sadistic people smuggler who raped and murdered migrants in Libyan desert sentenced to life in prison". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 2021-11-14. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
  22. ↑ "Torturing migrants gets Somali man life sentence in Italy". The Local Italy. 2017-10-10. Archived from the original on 2021-11-14. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
  23. ↑ Drewett, Zeo (2022-07-29). "Migrants reveal torture and forced labour inside Libyan detention centres with murky ties to EU". inews.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2022-08-08. Retrieved 2022-08-08.
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