• E-books
  • Partner
  • Contact Us
Monday, March 27, 2023
No Result
View All Result
Osservatorio Mashrek
  • Home
  • News
  • Analysis
    • Interview
    • Dossier
  • Jihad watch
  • In-Depth
  • Cartoons
  • Home
  • News
  • Analysis
    • Interview
    • Dossier
  • Jihad watch
  • In-Depth
  • Cartoons
No Result
View All Result
Osservatorio Mashrek
No Result
View All Result

Stuck between a gun and a hard place: Migrants in Libya face enduring calamities

by Nino Orto
10 December 2021
in News
Reading Time: 6 mins read
0
Stuck between a gun and a hard place: Migrants in Libya face enduring calamities
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Stuck in a malicious geo-political spider’s web, thousands of migrants in Libya face indescribable conditions, with little hope for the future. Nino Orto speaks with those on the ground to help expose their stories.

Starved, beaten, tortured, raped, forced into slavery. Piled up by the thousands in crumbly buildings without bathrooms or showers. A gruesome portrait emerges from the testimonies of those who passed through the Libyan detention camps – or as some called them, the labs of torture.

Migrants carried to these facilities have been through physical and psychological violence. Often, they suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) because of the abuses they received or witnessed.

Lybia remains a nightmare for tens of thousands of migrants who try to reach Europe. The breakdown in the judiciary system of the country led to chaos in which criminal groups, human traffickers, and political factions found a flourishing business.

“Over the years, a vast, heterogeneous and widespread network of migrant exploitation has been organised in Libya by criminal groups and militias, armed forces and police, supported by local gangs or individuals”

“Almost all migrants arrested in Libya endured kidnapping and torture either by officials or smugglers who used them as slaves,” said Dr Peppe Cannella, a psychotherapist and board member of “Medici per i Diritti Umani” (MEDU), an NGO that provides psychological support to migrants in Italy.

According to the Italian NGO, between 2014 to 2020 at least 85 percent of migrants who came to Italy from Libya underwent torture and degrading treatment, including overcrowded places, food and sleep deprivation, and death.

“The main consequences for these people is PTSD or personality disturbance such as depression, anxiety, and anti-social behaviour. What we are witnessing in Libya is a systematic and institutionalised method of torture towards migrants.

“Physical abuse is so common that almost everybody recalls experiences in which they were cut with knives, tied to the roof with ropes, burned with boiling liquids.

“Overcrowded sites also play an important role in the insurgence of mental illness because the places where they are gathered are overcrowded in unbearable conditions, with no bathrooms and windows. Often, in complete darkness or with the lights on all the time,” Dr Cannella explains.

Over the years, a vast, heterogeneous and widespread network of migrant exploitation has been organised in Libya by criminal groups and militias, armed forces and police, supported by local gangs or individuals.

The country, still divided by inner conflicts between factions, converted itself into a hub in which the exploitation of migrants has grown as a flourishing business and became the main source of income for many Libyans.

“I was taken to a dump room in Al-Khums prison, far from Tripoli, along with more than 300 people, with no space to lie down or sleep. The guards beat us every day with plastic tubes while tossing cold water on us,” says Momoudu, a 17-year-old refugee from the Gambia. 

“Usually, they let small groups get out of the room to savagely beat them to extort money. Many people were seriously injured. I have seen some people lose their legs due to the violent beatings they received,” Momoudu adds. 

Current Libyan legislation criminalises illegal entry into the country without any exception for asylum-seekers or refugees. The violation could lead to an indefinite deportation sentence, forced labour, or a fine of up to 1,000 Libyan dinars (around £550).RELATED

As underlined by numerous international NGO’s, many migrants suspected of being illegal are kidnapped during house raids and detained at governmental facilities under the authority of the Ministry of Interior, where they are locked up indefinitely awaiting deportation.

The Libyan authorities continue to dismiss the matter and avoid addressing the issue, despite numerous calls by the international community.

According to a report by Amnesty International, the government in Tripoli has failed “to hold members of those groups to account for their involvement in war crimes and human rights violations” and are “exacerbating impunity by integrating them into national institutions, relying on them for law enforcement and security”.

Last October, thousands of migrants took the street in the capital demanding better treatment and more rights. However, the subsequent crackdown in response to the protests by the government in Qargaresh, a neighbour in Tripoli with a historical presence of asylum-seekers, shows the unwillingness to meet these requests.

“Once again, rather than address the situation, [the Prime Minister of Libya] Dadaiba has tried to use migrants as a tool to expand his political support and is using xenophobia to appeal to a wider sector of the population”

“Riots in the detention centres which led to the mass escape and the protests were fuelled by the horrible inhuman conditions inside the overcrowded facilities. Huge numbers of people are still detained indefinitely without any assurance by the state of the law,” said Khalifa Abo Khraisse, a Libyan filmmaker and journalist specialising in migrants.

During the operation, more than 4,000 thousand people have been arrested, 15 wounded, and one killed while trying to escape. However, while the official media paints the operation as heroic, many questioned the real reasons behind the incursion.

“Although many of the asylum-seekers detained in the last raid in the Qargaresh area are registered at the UNCHR office, and some have already obtained the official paper to leave the country and get the chance to live a better life elsewhere, the Libyan government continue to neglect its international duties. Due to the poor management and the impulsive decisions of Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dadaiba, the conditions worsen for thousands of refugees and migrants who remain in limbo,” he added. 

The raids took place as part of what the authorities described as a security campaign against illegal immigration and drug smuggling.RELATED

However, the Interior Ministry, which led the security operation, did not indicate the arrest of any smugglers.

Instead, a government official said authorities would “deport as many as possible” of the migrants back to their countries of origin as part of a no-tolerance approach towards illegal immigration.

Qargaresh, a well-known centre for migrants and refugees, is located about 12 kilometres west of Tripoli, the Libyan capital.

The town has seen several waves of anti-immigrant crackdowns over the years, but activists described the latest wave as “the most violent in years.”

“Once again, rather than address the situation, Dadaiba has tried to use migrants as a tool to expand his political support and is using xenophobia to appeal to a wider sector of the population,” Khraisse concluded.

Nino Orto is a freelance journalist who specialises in the analysis of Iraq, Syria and wars in the Middle East. He is the editor-in-chief of Osservatorio Mashrek which provides insight and analysis on the Middle East.

This article was originally published on The New Arab

Related

Tags: featuredLybiaMigrantsNino OrtoOsservatorio Mashrek
ShareTweetSendShare
Previous Post

Lifelines in limbo: Refugees face harrowing injustice at Poland-Belarus border

Next Post

Here for them: Warsaw welcomes waves of displaced Ukrainians

Nino Orto

Nino Orto

Analyst and journalist specialised in the greater Middle East, jihadist groups, security issues. He has been on The New Arab, The Conflict Archive, Equilibri, Osservatorio Iraq, Il Manifesto, L'Indro, L'Occidentale. He published in 2015 his book "Business,Piombo,Dollari. La privatizzazione della guerra irachena" on the privatization of the Iraqi war. He is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Osservatorio Mashrek where he covers the conflicts in Syria and Iraq, Israel-Palestine, area MENA, transnational jihadist groups.

Next Post
Here for them: Warsaw welcomes waves of displaced Ukrainians

Here for them: Warsaw welcomes waves of displaced Ukrainians

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Recommended

Siria: la nuova strategia di Al Nusra

Siria: la nuova strategia di Al Nusra

8 years ago
2015: le Guerre invisibili

2015: le Guerre invisibili

8 years ago

Follow Us on Facebook

Follow Us on Twitter

  • Partner
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy (EU)
Work with us: +1 234

© 2021 Osservatorio Mashrek

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • In-Depth
  • Dossier
  • Interview
  • Analysis
  • Jihad watch
  • Cartoons
  • E-books
  • Partner
  • Contact Us

© 2021 Osservatorio Mashrek

Manage Cookie Consent
We use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. We do this to improve browsing experience and to show personalised ads. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}