Horrifying accounts of sexual violence, killings, torture and religious persecution collected by Amnesty International reveal the shocking range of abuses along the smuggling routes to and through Libya.
The organization spoke to at least 90 refugees and migrants at reception centres in Puglia and Sicily, who had made the journey across the Mediterranean from Libya to southern Italy in the past few months, and who were abused by people smugglers, traffickers, organized criminal gangs and armed groups.
“Their experiences paint a terrifying picture of the conditions many of those who come to Europe are so desperate to escape.”
Magdalena Mughrabi, Interim Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International
“From being abducted, incarcerated underground for months and sexually abused by members of armed groups, to being beaten, exploited or shot at by people smugglers, traffickers or criminal gangs - refugees and migrants have described in harrowing detail the horrors they were forced to endure in Libya,” said Magdalena Mughrabi, Interim Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International.
“Their experiences paint a terrifying picture of the conditions many of those who come to Europe are so desperate to escape.”
Hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants - mostly from Sub-Saharan Africa - travel to Libya fleeing war, persecution or extreme poverty, often in the hope of settling in Europe. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates there are over 264,000 migrants and refugees currently in Libya. According to UNHCR, there are around 37,500 registered refugees and asylum-seekers, half of them Syrians.
“No one should have to face abduction, torture and rape in Libya to seek protection."
Magdalena Mughrabi
“No one should have to face abduction, torture and rape in Libya to seek protection. The international community should be doing their utmost to ensure refugees do not need to flee to Libya in the first place. The EU, and indeed governments around the world, should dramatically increase the number of resettlement places and humanitarian visas to vulnerable refugees facing severe hardships and few prospects in the neighbouring countries they first fled to,” said Magdalena Mughrabi.
Despite the formation of a UN-backed Government of National Accord fighting continues in parts of Libya including in Benghazi, Derna and Sirte.