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Date: November 22, 2024 Fri
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libya
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116 total results foundAuthor: International Crisis Group Title: Trial by Error: Justice in Post- Qadhafi Libya Summary: There are many necessary cures to Libya’s pervasive insecurity, but few more urgent than repairing its judicial system. Qadhafi-era victims, distrusting an apparatus they view as a relic, take matters in their hands; some armed groups, sceptical of the state’s ability to carry out justice, arbitrarily detain, torture or assassinate presumed Qadhafi loyalists; others, taking advantage of disorder, do violence for political or criminal aims. All this triggers more grievances, further undermining confidence in the state. Breaking this cycle requires multi-pronged action: delivering justice to former regime victims by reforming the judiciary and kick-starting transitional justice; screening out ex-regime loyalists guilty of crimes while avoiding witch-hunts; and reining in armed groups, including those operating under a state umbrella. Unless there is a clear message – the justice system is being reformed; no violence or abuse, done in the past by Qadhafi-era officials or in the present by armed groups will be tolerated – there is a real risk of escalating targeted assassinations, urban violence and communal conflicts. It has been well over a year since Qadhafi’s regime was ousted and still there is no functioning court system in many parts of the country, while armed groups continue to run prisons and enforce their own forms of justice. The severe deficiencies of the current judicial system are rooted, first and foremost, in the failings of the one that, in principle, it has replaced. Under Qadhafi, the judiciary suffered from politicisation of appointments, rampant corruption and the use of extrajudicial means to target political opponents. Four decades of such arbitrary justice served as a burdensome backdrop to the new government’s efforts; faced with a choice between summarily dismissing judicial officers who served under Qadhafi or gradually screening them one-by-one, the new authorities so far have opted for the latter. While this was the right decision, it has contributed to public scepticism regarding the scope of change. The situation has been complicated by the proliferation of armed groups. Distrustful of the Qadhafi-era judiciary and police, frustrated by the slow pace of trials against former officials, facing state security forces in disarray and emboldened by their new power, so-called revolutionary brigades – and, at times, criminal gangs posing as such – have been operating above the law, hindering the work of investigators and judges. They all at once assume the roles of police, prosecutors, judges and jailers. Armed brigades create investigation and arrest units; draft lists of wanted individuals; set up checkpoints or force their way into people’s homes to capture presumed outlaws or people suspected of aiding the former regime; and, in some cases, run their own detention facilities in their own headquarters, isolated farms or commandeered former state buildings. Thousands of individuals are in their hands, outside the official legal framework and without benefit of judicial review or basic due process. Assassinations and growing attacks against government security forces have further darkened the picture. This has all the hallmarks of a vicious cycle: impatience with the pace of justice and overall mistrust embolden armed groups; their increased activism undermines the state’s ability to function, including on matters of law and order; and this in turn vindicates the armed groups’ claim that it is their duty to fill the vacuum. Details: Brussels: International Crisis Group, 2013. 53p. Source: Internet Resource: Middle East/North Africa Report N°140: Accessed April 18, 2013 at: http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/Middle%20East%20North%20Africa/North%20Africa/libya/140-trial-by-error-justice-in-post-qadhafi-libya.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Libya Keywords: Courts Shelf Number: 128416 |
Author: Shaw, Mark Title: Illicit Trafficking and Libya's Transition: Profits and Losses Summary: As Libya emerges from forty years of autocratic rule, the criminal economy is undermining government efforts at state consolidation. This report maps the flow of weapons, migrants, drugs, and smuggled goods through Libya and details the interactions between armed groups who control illicit markets and local communities. The authors warn that efforts to beef up border control policing will not be sufficient. Combating organized crime in Libya requires a broader approach that will engage marginalized groups in a political process. Failure to do so will affect not only Libya but the region as well. Details: Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace, 2014. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: Peaceworks No. 96: Accessed April 19, 2014 at: http://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/PW96-Illicit-Trafficking-and-Libyas-Transition.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Libya Keywords: Border Security Shelf Number: 132069 |
Author: Florquin, Nicolas Title: Searching for Stability: Perceptions of Security, Justice, and Firearms in Libya Summary: The Issue Brief examines the Libyan population's views and experiences of armed violence, security and justice providers, and firearms circulation. It uses a mix of qualitative and quantitative tools, including semi-directed interviews, focus groups, and a nationwide household survey - administered to 1,500 Libyan households between June and August 2013 - to provide this overview of Libyan perceptions. Four main thematic components elucidate the Issue Brief's findings: (1) perceptions of security and justice; (2) perceptions of security and justice providers; (3) direct experiences of crime and violence; and (4) perceptions of firearms and arms control initiatives. The primary findings include the following: - Although Libyans consider the general lack of security to be their main concern, most also claim that their own neighbourhoods are relatively safe. Reported levels of victimization - i.e. respondents' direct experiences of crime and violence - also appear to be relatively low. Regular clashes between armed groups and tribes in a number of locations contribute to the rampant perceptions of political instability and general insecurity. - The population is confused about the security sector. More than half of survey respondents claimed that no institution, group, or individual provided security in their own neighbourhoods. While the police were the most frequently cited provider of security, Libyans assessed their performance negatively. Some actors, such as the former revolutionary fighters or thuwar, are viewed as both providers of security and sources of insecurity. - A diverse set of both formal and informal actors are involved in the successful resolution of disputes, including police, traditional leaders, family members, local councils, and non-state armed groups. - Self-reported household ownership of firearms is only moderately high in Libya when compared to the situation in several other countries and territories affected by conflict or marked insecurity. Most respondents who reported owning firearms identified them as automatic weapons, such as Kalashnikov-pattern rifles. While they expressed openness to weapons control initiatives, respondents also identified stronger government and security institutions as preconditions for their participation in such initiatives. Details: Geneva: Small Arms Survey, 2014. 8p. Source: Internet Resource: Issue Brief: Accessed September 27, 2014 at: http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/fileadmin/docs/G-Issue-briefs/SAS-SANA-IB1-Searching-for-Stability-Libya.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Libya Keywords: Firearms Shelf Number: 133451 |
Author: Tabib, Rafaa Title: Stealing the revolution: violence and predation in Libya Summary: The success of Libya's 2011 revolution has given way to political disarray, an institutional vacuum, and an extraordinary proliferation of non-state and quasi-state armed groups operating across the country. However, rather than pursuing political or ideological objectives, these groups increasingly focus on resource predation. Through an empirical study of various axes of violence in contemporary Libya, this report highlights the critical role played by criminal accumulation, land grabs, and protection rackets in the actions of tribal militias and jihadist groups, and in the fighting that has blighted one major urban hub. Whereas conventional representations of Libya's post-revolutionary period dwell on the political battle between Islamists and secular forces, the report suggests that the cause of the country’s increasing levels of armed violence can be found in the absence of a functional state and the fragmentation of local, tribal, ethnic and ideological forces, which together make the violent acquisition of material resources essential to group survival. Details: Oslo: Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Center, 2014. 10p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 3, 2015 at: http://www.clingendael.nl/sites/default/files/Tabib_Clingendael_NOREF_Stealing%20the%20revoulution_Violence%20and%20predation%20in%20Libya_October%202014.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Libya Keywords: Crime Shelf Number: 135869 |
Author: Naik, Asmita Title: Detained Youth: The fate of young migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees in Libya today Summary: This study paints a damning picture of the immigration detention of young migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees in Libya today. Based on in-depth interviews with 45 detainees (85 per cent of whom were unaccompanied children or young people), the study reveals a consistent pattern of arbitrary detention; of people held for months at a time without any form of due process in squalid, cramped conditions. Detention occurs in facilities across the country, many of which are reported to be under the control of the governing authorities or militia forces. Serious violations, including allegations of violence and brutality, are said to be commonplace, including in some of Libya's most well-known detention centres. As the first study of its kind to assess the particular plight of detained refugee, asylum-seeking and migrant children and youth in Libya's immigration detention centres, it provides timely information about the current situation in the country. The right to liberty and freedom from arbitrary detention is among the most fundamental of rights belonging to all human beings, and its consistent denial, especially to vulnerable minors and young people, is a matter of the gravest concern. The absence of a humane and orderly framework for handling migration flows in Libya is no doubt a contributing factor to the ever increasing numbers of migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees willing to risk their lives in the Mediterranean to reach the safety of Europe. Details: s.l.: Mixed Migration Hub, 2015. 90p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 13, 2015 at: http://www.migration4development.org/sites/default/files/mhub_2015_detained-youth.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Libya Keywords: Asylum Seekers Shelf Number: 136000 |
Author: Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime Title: Libya: a growing hub for Criminal Economies and Terrorist Financing in the Trans-Sahara Summary: The Sahara has been a pipeline for smuggling and trafficking of many types of goods for well over a thousand years. Libya, which has ties to Europe dating back to the Roman Empire, has always been a key destination and transit area for many of these illicit flows. Since the fall of Gaddafi, the smuggling and trafficking business involving both armed groups and organized crime networks has increased dramatically in Libya. Instability and state breakdown has allowed the traditional tribal trans-Sahara trade, in drugs, counterfeit products and migrants and arms to grow to around US$43-80m at most, distributed among a large number of traffickers, clans and groups. The increase in flows of money and illegal goods are having repercussions across North Africa and the Sahel. Illicit finances and weaponry from Libya helped facilitate the rebellion in Mali in 2010, and continues to fuel conflict today. More significantly, the high number of migrants along the North African coast has enabled the development of a far more lucrative coastal migrant trade, valued now at US$ 255 - 323 million per year in Libya alone. The value of this trade dwarfs any existing trafficking and smuggling businesses in the region, and has particularly strengthened groups with a terrorist agenda, including the Islamic State. Drawn from a range of open source data and a number of recent interviews across the Saharan region, this brief documents the current scope and scale of trans-Saharan criminal economies and highlights their possible implications on stability and security. The goal of this brief is to provide a timely update of the evidence base on potential conflict drivers in the greater Sahara region, for the benefit of policy-makers, practitioners and researchers. The brief is a collaboration between the Norwegian Centre for Global Analysis (Rhipto) and the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime. The brief concludes that given the level of illicit revenue it is currently possible to generate from the migrant flow, preventing Islamic State and coastal Libyan armed groups from becoming involved in or profiting from migrant smuggling should be of greater priority than attempting to cut off the long-established trans-Saharan trade routes passing through the Sahel towards Libya. Details: Geneva: The Global Initiative, 2015. 15p. Source: Internet Resource: Policy Brief: Accessed July 23, 2015 at: http://www.globalinitiative.net/download/global-initiative/Libya%20Criminal%20Economies%20in%20the%20trans-Sahara%20-%20May%202015.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Libya Keywords: Financial Crimes Shelf Number: 136144 |
Author: Amnesty International Title: 'Libya is Full of Cruelty': Summary: Inside war-torn Libya, thousands of foreign nationals, including refugees and asylum-seekers, face abductions for ransom, torture and sexual violence by traffickers, smugglers and organized criminal groups. Many are systematically subjected to discrimination and exploitation by their employers or face indefinite detention in appalling conditions on account of their immigration status. Religious minorities, in particular Christian migrants and refugees, are persecuted and are at highest risk of abuse from armed groups that seek to enforce their own interpretation of Islamic law. This briefing, based on research conducted by Amnesty International in Sicily and Tunisia between August 2014 and April 2015, shows that widespread abuses are increasingly pushing thousands of foreign nationals, including members of established communities, to risk their lives in treacherous sea crossings in a desperate attempt to reach safety in Europe. As violence continues in Libya and ever more people drown in the Mediterranean Sea, Amnesty International calls on governments of neighbouring countries, which have imposed more stringent entry requirements out of fear that the conflicts in Libya will spill over into their territory, to keep their borders open to all individuals in need of international protection. Amnesty International welcomes the commitment made by EU leaders to deploy more resources for search and rescue, but more people will drown in the Mediterranean Sea unless rescue vessels are delivered promptly, deployed in areas where they are needed most and remain available for as long as high numbers of refugees and migrants continue to depart from Libya. Amnesty International also calls on EU governments to increase the number of resettlement places, humanitarian admissions and visas for people in need of international protection. Details: London: AI, 2015. 31p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 14, 2015 at: https://doc.es.amnesty.org/cgi-bin/ai/BRSCGI/MDE1915782015ENGLISH?=VEROBJ&MLKOB=33253431111 Year: 2015 Country: Libya Keywords: Human Rights Abuses Shelf Number: 136426 |
Author: Human Rights Watch Title: "We Feel We Are Cursed": Life under ISIS in Sirte, Libya Summary: In February 2015 the extremist armed group Islamic State (also known as ISIS) began taking over the Mediterranean port city of Sirte, Libya. By the following August ISIS had turned Sirte into its largest stronghold outside of Iraq and Syria. This report documents serious crimes committed by ISIS in Sirte including the executions of 49 people the group accused of "spying," "sorcery," and "insulting God." "We Feel We Are Cursed," based on research including interviews with 45 Libyans who lived under ISIS in Sirte, details how the group imposed its severe interpretation of Sharia (Islamic law) on all aspects of life. Meanwhile, ISIS has failed to provide basic necessities to the local population, diverting food, medicine, fuel, and cash, along with homes of residents who fled, to its fighters and functionaries. With war-wracked Libya's institutions in near-collapse, countries able to exercise criminal jurisdiction should take immediate steps to apprehend and prosecute those responsible for atrocities by ISIS and other parties. The International Criminal Court should prioritize an investigation of ongoing serious crimes in Libya as well. The United Nations Human Rights Council should appoint an independent expert to document serious, ongoing abuses in Libya. The Security Council should impose sanctions on those found responsible for serious crimes in Libya while ensuring appropriate due process. International parties have repeatedly failed to act on their promises to identify and punish the perpetrators of serious crimes in Libya. Continued failure to act will result in more horrific crimes by groups including ISIS. Details: New York: HRW, 2016. 47p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 8, 2016 at: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/libya0516web_1.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Libya Keywords: Extremist Groups Shelf Number: 139336 |
Author: Ali, Fathi Title: Consequences of Torture and Organized Violence: Libya Needs Assessment Survey Summary: The data collection was completed in October 2013. 2,692 household interviews were included in the national survey. Every fifth household responded to having a family member disappeared, 11% reported having a household member arrested and 5% reported one killed. Of those arrested, 46% reported beatings, 20% positional torture or suspensions, 16% suffocation and from 3 to 5% reported having suffered sexual, thermal or electrical torture. In short our data support the allegations that widespread human rights violations and gross human rights violations have taken place in Libya. The consequences at the level of the population are massive: 29% of individuals report anxiety and 30% report depression, while PTSD symptoms were reported by 6%. These results indicate that the respondents at the time of interview could still be in an acute or post-acute stage and have yet to reach the post-trauma stage, hence we predict that the prevalence of post-traumatic stress reactions will increase over time, if or when the internal conflict subsides. Furthermore, our data show that internal displacement is major concern in Libya. A total of 18% of the respondents reported being internally displaced during the internal conflict, and 16% remains so at the time of the interview, indicating a major source of long-term human suffering and political instability. In these times of distress and crisis respondents have had almost no access to international humanitarian assistance. Only 2% report having been helped by NGOs. Libyans overwhelmingly have resorted to local resources for social support: 72% indicate they used family networks and 48% friends, 43% Libyan medical doctors, 24% used religious leaders and 18% used traditional healers. Overall, we conclude that both the short-term consequences of the internal conflict as well as the long-term consequences of the Gaddafi regime are in large measures still unaddressed. In order to deal with life stress, 59% indicated they needed assistance in terms of justice, legal remedy and compensation, while 44% indicated they needed health and medical assistance. Thus, the report concludes that any future government of Libya faces massive challenges in alleviating human suffering and improving mental health. However, as the internal conflict continues more and more people are affected by human rights violations aggravating mental health afflictions, straining the social fabric and the capacity of the Libyan state. Details: Copenhagen: Danish Institute Against Torture (DIGNITY), 2015. 45p. Source: Internet Resource: DIGNITY Publication Series No. 8: Accessed June 13, 2016 at: https://dignityinstitute.org/media/2065868/pubseries8_libya_final.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Libya Keywords: Disappearances Shelf Number: 139430 |
Author: Mangan, Fiona B. Title: Prisons and Detention in Libya Summary: This report examines the prison system in Libya. With the permission of the Libyan Ministry of Justice and Judicial Police, United States Institute of Peace (USIP) research teams conducted two assessments of the Libyan prison system, visiting detention facilities throughout the country in 2012 and again in 2015-16 to evaluate organizational function, security, infrastructure, and prisoner well-being. This report combines and compares the findings of the two assessments, discussing the broader context of detention issues in Libya, with analysis centering on prisons under the authority of the Ministry of Justice and operated by the Judicial Police. The 2012 assessment team consisted of Fiona Mangan, a USIP senior program officer, and Dr. Mark Shaw, an expert consultant. The 2015-16 assessment team consisted of Rebecca Murray, a researcher and journalist; Rami Musa, a journalist; and Fiona Mangan. Mohamed Abouharous provided invaluable translation and logistical support during both visits. The assessments, part of a multiyear portfolio of rule of law programming and analysis conducted after the 2011 revolution, were supported by the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Bureau of the U.S. Department of State. Details: Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace, 2016. 52p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 30, 2016 at: https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/PW119-Prisons-and-Detention-in-Libya.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Libya Keywords: Correctional Institutions Shelf Number: 140530 |
Author: United Nations Support Mission in Libya Title: "Detained and Dehumanised": Report on Human Rights Abuses Against Migrants in Libya Summary: The situation of migrants in Libya is a human rights crisis. The breakdown in the justice system has led to a state of impunity, in which armed groups, criminal gangs, smugglers and traffickers control the flow of migrants through the country. The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) has also received credible information that some members of State institutions and some local officials have participated in the smuggling and trafficking process. Libya is a destination and transit country for migrants. Many suffer human rights violations and abuses in the course of their journeys. They are subjected to arbitrary detention, torture, other ill-treatment, unlawful killings, sexual exploitation, and a host of other human rights abuses. Migrants are also exploited as forced labour and suffer extortion by smugglers, traffickers, as well as members of State institutions. Women migrants are the most exposed, amidst numerous and consistent reports of rape and other sexual violence. Migrants are held arbitrarily in detention centres run mostly by the Department for Combatting Illegal Migration (DCIM). They are brought to the centres where there is no formal registration, no legal process, and no access to lawyers or judicial authorities. Conditions in detention are generally inhuman: severely overcrowded, without adequate access to toilets or washing facilities, food, or clean water. In several detention centres visited by UNSMIL, migrants were observed in large numbers in a single room without even sufficient space to lie down. Amidst severe challenges faced by the health sector in Libya as a result of the conflict, some hospitals have refused to treat migrants, citing a lack of payment and fear of infectious diseases. Information received by UNSMIL shows a consistent and widespread pattern of guards beating, humiliating and extorting migrants, including by taking money for their release. A number of migrants interviewed by UNSMIL had sustained gunshot or knife injuries; several migrants had visible wounds and head injuries. UNSMIL also received reports that groups pledging allegiance to the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have been involved in the abduction and abuse of migrants in Libya. Migrants, as well as representatives of international non-governmental organizations that carry out search and rescue operations, have also recounted dangerous, life-threatening interceptions by armed men believed to be from the Libyan Coast Guard. After interception, migrants are often beaten, robbed and taken to detention centres or private houses and farms, where they are subjected to forced labour, rape, and other sexual violence. From 1 January to 22 November 2016, 168,542 migrants arrived in Italy from Libya and 4164 are known to have died at sea. The actual number is likely to be higher. The European Union is seeking to disrupt the smuggling of migrants and trafficking of humans by a number of means including through its naval Operation Sophia 1 . Lifesaving search and rescue operations are carried out by ships belonging to the European Union Operations Sophia and Triton2 , and ships of individual European States such as the Italian Coast Guard, non-governmental organizations, and merchant ships3 . Rescued migrants are taken to Italy. Some senior government officials in Europe have called for the establishment of migrant camps in North Africa and the return of boats to Libya. However, European Union policy and international law prohibits the return of any individual to a place where she or he is at risk of torture or other serious human rights abuses. The Libyan Coast Guard has also carried out limited search and rescue operations in Libyan territorial waters. The Libyan authorities, with the support of the international community, must do all in their power to address this human rights crisis, starting as a matter of urgency with the situation of migrants in detention. In addition, as the issue of migration has a wider regional and international dimension, countries of origin and destination need to play their role in addressing the crisis. In this present report, UNSMIL and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) propose immediate and mid-term recommendations, with a view to addressing this situation in a manner which is both comprehensive and human rights-based. In this regard, recommendations addressed to the Libyan authorities include, with a view to urgently ending the arbitrary detention of all migrants, to release immediately migrants who are in the most vulnerable situations; reduce the number of detention centres; ensure female detainees are held separately from male detainees; improve conditions of detention; facilitate the work of the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in the country; and, in the medium-term, to amend Libyan legislation in order to decriminalize irregular migration; ratify the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol and adopt a national asylum law. In addition, OHCHR and UNSMIL recommend that countries of destination beyond Libya, including Member States of the European Union, expand safe and regular entry channels and the availability of durable solutions; continue search and rescue operations; and ensure that training and support for Libyan institutions which engage with migrants is accompanied by comprehensive efforts to address the human rights of migrants, including through ending their arbitrary detention and improving their treatment in detention. A number of recommendations are also directed to migrants' countries of origin including to facilitate voluntary, humanitarian and sustainable repatriation of migrants and to work on human rights and development programmes aimed at providing alternatives to irregular migration. Details: UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), 2016. 32p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 15, 2016 at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/585104cf4.html Year: 2016 Country: Libya Keywords: Forced Labor Shelf Number: 140479 |
Author: El Kamouni-Janssen, Floor Title: 'Only God Can Stop the Smugglers': Understanding smuggling networks in Libya Summary: This report examines human smuggling networks in Libya. The smuggling of human beings is an established fact of today’s political economy in Libya and it is firmly embedded in local subsistence economies. As such there is a dizzying array of actors involved in the business of which some claim to act on behalf of the state. The human smuggling business not only brings them money, it also offers the opportunity to acquire legitimacy and political and territorial power. An understanding of the incentives and objectives of these actors to enage in the human smuggling business not only shows why it is so difficult to root out human smuggling in Libya, but it is also essential in formulating realistic and humane policies to address human smuggling in and through Libya Details: The Hague: Netherlands Institute of International Relations 'Clingendael', 2017. 47p. Source: Internet Resource: CRU Report: Accessed March 3, 2017 at: https://www.clingendael.nl/sites/default/files/only_god_can_stop_the_smugglers.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Libya Keywords: Criminal Networks Shelf Number: 141308 |
Author: Micallef, Mark Title: The Human Conveyor Belt: trends in human trafficking and smuggling in post-revolution Libya Summary: The proliferation of human smuggling in Libya is both a criminal problem and a feature of Libya’s fracture into competing armed factions. Whilst most acutely perceived on Libya's coast, it is in fact an illicit trade embedded across the country, encompassing and feeding on the political economy and geopolitics of Libya’s Southern, Eastern and Western borders. The expansion and consolidation of smuggling activity has been further predicated on the interface with communities, as it has been justified as a means to fund militias, which in turn provide security in the face of external threats from competing families, tribes and towns. Migrants and refugees have become simply another commodity to be exploited in the broader resource predation carried out by armed groups that exercise effective control over the Libyan territory. The consequences for human security, both for the migrants but for the Libyan people, are considerable. Action is urgently needed but a long-term perspective is imperative. Any intervention by the international community or national Libyan agents that takes a short-term perspective risks playing into the hands of the very same armed groups at the heart of the problem. Not only would such action risk failing to achieve the stated goal of bringing order to migratory flows running through Libya, but may in fact contribute to the further destabilisation of the country. The alternative is not inaction but greater investment in bridging the knowledge gaps with a view to identify ways in which to isolate smuggling industries from their communities at a local level. Key Findings • Market Liberalisation: The liberalisation of the human smuggling market in the immediate aftermath of Libya's revolution provided established smugglers with new opportunities to internationalise their network with the help of Middle Eastern and East African middlemen and better access to hawala1 (paperless financial transactions based on honour) – an activity that was closely monitored by the Qaddafi regime. While coastal linchpins had enjoyed long established relationships with East African manadeeb (plural of mandub, agent or representative), these contacts were furthered during this period. Moreover, the advent of Syrian refugees seeking to cross to Europe from Libya opened new opportunities to establish a financial infrastructure which was fundamental for the development of the smuggling industry in the following years. • Smuggling as Resource Predation: The protection market developed by various militias and armed groups around smuggling is a feature of the general resource predation which has come to characterise Libya's socio-political landscape after the revolution. This interfaces the activity with local familial, tribal and community interests, resulting in some instances in the perception of legitimacy of smuggling, or at the very least the view that such activities are a necessary evil for the provision of a community's security in the face of outside threats from competing or antagonist groups. • Capacity Expansion: The involvement of militias in the smuggling process both through the taxing of activities in their territory and the direct running of human smuggling networks has reshaped the market which can no longer be described as a liberalised market. The rules of supply and demand cannot be applied directly to the analysis of human smuggling and trafficking in Libya anymore because access to protection is what ultimately guarantees a network’s position in the market place. The militarisation of the activity is squeezing small-timers out of the business and concentrating smuggling activities in the hands of fewer, well-organised criminal networks. The territorial access provided by militias has expanded smugglers' logistical capacity and further increased efficiency, opening the Libyan territory to a lot more "business", particularly in the context of a seemingly limitless demand. It is this enhanced capacity that has led to the explosion in numbers seen in the aftermath of the revolution, especially after 2013. • Transnational Consolidation: There are clear signs some networks have developed into transnational consortia, able to handle routes and volumes of people requiring substantial logistical and financial capacity. Of particular relevance is the fact that different networks are sharing facilities. This is a new phenomenon to the Libyan context, which has substantial implications for policy formulation. While, diaspora networks from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and sub-Sahara regions have long operated over huge geographies requiring coordination in multiple countries and different parts of Libya, such coordination was mostly confined to the supply side. Each of these networks would make its own arrangements with different players in Libya (desert guides/transit smugglers/coastal smugglers). That coordinating role now appears to have been taken over - at least on some routes - by Libyan linchpins who are able to guarantee access to multiple territories. Details: Geneva, SWIT: Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, 2017. 63p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 1, 2017 at: http://globalinitiative.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/global-initiative-human-conveyor-belt-human-smuggling-in-libya-march-2017.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Libya Keywords: Criminal Networks Shelf Number: 144688 |
Author: Jenzen-Jones, N.R. Title: Web Trafficking: Analysing the Online Trade of Small Arms and Light Weapons in Libya Summary: The Libyan revolution deposed the Qaddafi regime in 2011, bringing to an end the tight regulation of the domestic arms trade. Military stockpiles were raided, and small arms and light weapons made their way into the hands of non-state armed groups and private sellers. The subsequent conflicts after the fall of the Qaddafi regime have resulted in more weapons flowing into the country. From a virtually non-existent domestic market, the revolution and its aftermath paved the way for a large illicit arms trade. Like their counterparts in many nations, some of the players in this new market now sell their wares via the Internet. Online sales via social media platforms are one of the tools currently being used for this purpose. ARES is delighted to announce that a new Working Paper, authored by ARES Director N.R. Jenzen-Jones & ARES Researcher Ian McCollum, and commissioned by the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey, has been released today. Working Paper 26 Web Trafficking: Analysing the Online Trade of Small Arms and Light Weapons in Libya provides an in-depth analysis of the trade in SALW in the online marketplaces of Libya. The Working Paper ties together interviews with marketplace participants with detailed analysis of a dataset derived from long-term monitoring of some of the closed social media-based groups listing small arms and light weapons for sale. It explores the types of weapons offered and their likely routes into the Libyan online markets. It concludes with a policy-relevant analysis of the current state of Libya's online markets and discusses the caveats and utility of such online monitoring for supplementing field-based research. The report indicates there is a "booming online black market" for arms and munitions, according to Director Jenzen-Jones. "It is reasonable to conclude that the online illicit weapons marketplace is growing in terms of both demand and supply," he said. Speaking with the Washington Post, Director Jenzen-Jones noted that "Whilst online trades appear to account for only a small portion of the illicit arms trade in Libya, this method's relative anonymity, low barrier to entry, and distributed nature means it is likely to pose unique challenges to law enforcement and embargo monitoring operations." Whilst companies responsible for some of the social media platforms which have been used for illicit arms trading have taken limited steps to curb the practice, the majority rely on users to report violations. ARES has documented several groups which have been shut down, only to reopen days or even hours later, with a core 'nucleus' of the same members. "It is difficult," Director Jenzen-Jones told the Christian Science Monitor, "to moderate these sellers effectively, due to the fluid nature of the trade." Numerous groups remain active in Libya and elsewhere. Details: Geneva, SWIT: Small Arms Survey, 2017. 112p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed Mary 4, 2017 at: http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/fileadmin/docs/F-Working-papers/SAS-SANA-WP26-Libya-web-trafficking.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Libya Keywords: Black Markets Shelf Number: 145313 |
Author: Reitano, Tuesday Title: Libya: The Politics of Power, Protection, Identity and illicit Trade Summary: Post-Revolution Libya has fractured into a volatile plethora of political ecosystems and protection economies, in which access to resources has become critical to survival. The struggle for control over illicit flows has shaped Libya's civil conflict and remains a decisive centrifugal force, actively preventing central state consolidation. Illicit flows exposed the deep fissures within Libyan society, divisions that the Gaddafi regime had controlled through a combination of force and the manipulation of economic interests in both the legitimate and illicit economy. The impact of illicit flows, however, has been different in different parts of the country: in a perverse resource triangle, coastal groups, while linked to the illicit economy (particularly through the control of ports and airports), have been paid by the state, while also relying on external financial support in a proxy war between competing interests centered in the Gulf. In the southern borderlands of the country, by contrast, control of trafficking, and the capture of the country's oil resources, have been key drivers in strengthening conflict protagonists. For some of the minority players in Libya's patchwork state, control over illicit resources became a way to bargain for attention in the transition. The gradual erosion of the legitimate economy following six years of protracted conflict and political stalemate has resulted in a status quo where the size and dynamism of illicit markets for fuel, human smuggling and subsidised goods far outweighs legitimate alternatives for several groups, thereby building the legitimacy of criminal actors over formal institutions. While the focus of much of the coverage of the external reporting of the Libyan conflict is on the divide between east and west, putting a spotlight on illicit trafficking also highlights the disparities between the coast and the interior. Unless the illicit economy, and the priorities of those who control it, are addressed holistically as part of the political transition, the possibilities for a peaceful settlement remain remote and the viability of the central state questionable. There are now no easy policy options. Details: Tokyo: United Nations University Centre for Policy Research, 2017. 16p. Source: Internet Resource: Crime-Conflict Nexus Series: No 3: Accessed June 16, 2017 at: https://i.unu.edu/media/cpr.unu.edu/attachment/2523/Libya-The-Politics-of-Power-Protection-Identity-and-Illicit-Trade-02.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Libya Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 146193 |
Author: Micallef, Mark Title: The anti-human smuggling business and Libya's political end game Summary: The significant drop in migrant numbers seen in the Central Mediterranean over the second half of 2017 is the result of the co-option of militias deeply involved with human smuggling. Whether this happened through direct engagement by Italian security services, as speculated, could not be ascertained. However, the shift is encouraged by the Italian cash-for-migration-control strategy for Libya. This hyper focus on the stemming of migrants by Italy, but also the EU at large, is encouraging an anti-smuggling business to emerge. Militia leaders, sensing that the present political status quo may be entering an end-game phase, are attempting to launder their reputations by accepting incentives to serve as law enforcement partners of international donors. Europe's hyper focus on stemming the flow of migrants in Libya, led principally by Italy, is encouraging the development of an anti-smuggling business. Militias engaged in human smuggling are now seeking to launder their reputation through co-option. Militia co-option is at the heart of the drop in migrant numbers coming from Libya over 2017, but is also responsible for destabilising country's west coast and is undermining state-building. Militias should not be allowed to reinvent themselves in new cloaks but leveraged into demobilisation and reintegration. A 'stability first' approach is a prerequisite for the success of the peace process but also for the chance of sustainable, long term migration management in the country. The UN should be allowed to lead the political process without being undermined by the bilateral actions of governments with their own agenda in Libya. Details: Pretoria: Institute for Security Studies, 2017. 24p. Source: Internet Resource: North Africa Report 2: Accessed February 8, 2018 at: https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/nar2.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Libya Keywords: Human Smuggling Shelf Number: 149069 |
Author: Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime Title: Responding to the human trafficking-migrant smuggling nexus with a focus on the situation in Libya Summary: Probably nowhere more than in Libya have the definitional lines between migrant smuggling and human trafficking become as blurred or contested. Hundreds of thousands of migrants have left Libya's shores in the hope of a new life in Europe; tens of thousands have died in the process. The inhumane conditions migrants face in Libya are well documented. The levels of brutality and exploitation they experience in Libya's turbulent transitional environment have led to smuggling and trafficking groups being bundled under one catch-all heading by authorities and policymakers, and targeted as the root cause of the migration phenomenon. In many respects, this would appear to conveniently serve the interests of EU leaders and governments, who choose to disguise the anti-migration drive they urgently seek support for behind a policy of cracking down on both trafficking and smuggling rings, which they conflate as a common enemy, and one and the same. Given the highly complex context of Libya, this report proposes instead that any intervention to address the so-called migrant crisis should place the human rights of migrants at its centre, as opposed to necessarily demonizing smugglers, who are often the migrants' gatekeepers to a better existence elsewhere. Details: Geneva, SWIT: The Global Initiative, 2018. 20p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 4, 2018 at: http://globalinitiative.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Reitano-McCormack-Trafficking-Smuggling-Nexus-in-Libya-July-2018.pdf Year: 2018 Country: Libya Keywords: Human Smuggling Shelf Number: 151508 |
Author: Global Detention Project Title: Immigration Detention in Libya: "A Human Rights Crisis" Summary: 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. KEY CONCERNS Refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants are regularly exposed to indefinite detention in centres run by the Interior Ministry's Department for Combating Illegal Immigration or local militias; Detention conditions across the country are a matter of "grave concern," according to the UN, as detainees are forced to live in severely overcrowded facilities with little food, water, or medical care, and suffer physical abuse, forced labour, slavery, and torture; The automatic placement of asylum seekers and migrants intercepted at sea in detention centres places them at risk of human rights abuses, which could be attenuated by expanding the use of shelters and other non-custodial measures that have been proposed by international experts; There do not appear to be any legal provisions regulating administrative forms of immigration detention and there is an urgent need for the country to develop a sound legal framework for its migration polices that is in line with international human rights standards; There is severely inadequate data collection by national authorities concerning the locations and numbers of people apprehended by both official agencies and non-state actors; Women and children are not recognised as requiring special attention and thus they remain particularly vulnerable to abuse and ill-treatment, including rape and human trafficking; Italy and the European Union continue to broker deals with various Libyan forces to control migration despite their involvement in severe human rights abuses and other criminal activities. Details: Geneva, Switzerland: Global Detention Project, 2018. 54p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 8, 2018 at: https://www.globaldetentionproject.org/countries/africa/libya Year: 2018 Country: Libya Keywords: Asylum Seekers Shelf Number: 151434 |
Author: Human Rights Watch Title: No Escape from Hell: EU Policies Contribute to Abuse of Migrants in Libya Summary: European Union policies are contributing to a cycle of extreme abuse against migrants and asylum seekers in Libya. Through their support, the EU, Italy and other member states are enabling the Libyan Coast Guard, under the Government of National Accord, to intercept boats leaving Libya knowing all migrants and asylum seekers are then detained in arbitrary, indefinite, and abusive detention. No Escape from Hell: EU Policies Contribute to Abuse of Migrants in Libya, is based on visits to four Libyan migrant detention centers where Human Rights Watch spoke with over 100 detained migrants and asylum seekers and documented severe overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, malnutrition, lack of adequate healthcare as well as violent abuse by guards including beatings, whippings, and other violence. The EU and member states' efforts to alleviate the suffering of migrants have had negligible impact on the ground. Libyan authorities should end arbitrary immigration detention and bring abusive guards to justice. EU governments should condition coastguard cooperation with Libya on concrete reforms and improvements and increase safe pathways for migrants and asylum seekers out of Libya. Details: New York: HRW, 2019. 78p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 28, 2019 at: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/eu0119_web2.pdf Year: 2019 Country: Libya Keywords: Asylum Seekers Shelf Number: 154409 |
Author: United Nations. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Title: Desperate and Dangerous: Report on the human rights situation of migrants and refugees in Libya Summary: Migrants and refugees suffer unimaginable horrors during their transit through and stay in Libya. From the moment they step onto Libyan soil, they become vulnerable to unlawful killings, torture and other ill-treatment, arbitrary detention and unlawful deprivation of liberty, rape and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence, slavery and forced labour, extortion and exploitation by both State and non-State actors. Published jointly by the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), this report describes patterns of serious human rights violations and abuses suffered by migrants and refugees in Libya at the hands of State officials and members of armed groups, as well as atrocities committed by smugglers and traffickers, amid the failure of the Libyan authorities to address these violations and abuses and provide redress to victims. The findings in this report are primarily based on around 1,300 first-hand accounts and other information gathered by human rights officers in UNSMIL between January 2017 and August 2018, including during regular monitoring visits to 11 immigration detention centres in Libya. UNSMIL also visited Nigeria in December 2017 and Italy in June 2018 to interview migrants who had been repatriated or had left Libya. This report traces the entire journey of migrants and refugees through Libya, which is marred by considerable risks of serious human rights violations and abuses at every step of the way. The report documents such violations from the moment migrants and refugees cross Libya's southern border throughout their journey to the northern coast. The journey continues with the perilous Mediterranean Sea crossings, increasingly ending in interception or rescue by the Libyan Coast Guard (LCG) and then transfer back to Libya where migrants face indefinite detention and frequent torture and other ill-treatment in centres unfit for human habitation. Despite the overwhelming evidence of human rights violations and abuses, Libyan authorities have thus far appeared largely unable or unwilling to put an end to violations and abuses committed against migrants and refugees. UNSMIL and OHCHR regret that the Libyan authorities have failed to implement the recommendations included in their joint report "Detained and Dehumanized": Report on Human Rights Abuses Against Migrants in Libya. issued on 13 December 2016. Given the lack of progress in addressing the rampant human rights violations and abuses against migrants and refugees in Libya, their situation has not improved in the past two years, despite overwhelming evidence of horrific abuses and increased attention given to the issue at global and regional levels. Years of armed conflict and political divisions have weakened Libyan institutions, including the judiciary, which have been unable, if not unwilling, to address the plethora of abuses and violations committed against migrants and refugees by smugglers, traffickers, members of armed groups and State officials, with near total impunity. The vacuum left by the State following the 2011 uprising and armed conflict has been filled by a multitude of armed groups in control of large swaths of Libya's territory, borders, and key installations. These armed groups were increasingly integrated into State institutions without any vetting processes to remove those with problematic human rights records, although the Government of National Accord, following the outbreak of violence in Tripoli in September 2018, has promised to take steps to diminish the influence of armed groups on state institutions. This climate of lawlessness provides fertile ground for thriving illicit activities, such as trafficking in human beings and criminal smuggling, and leaves migrant and refugee men, women and children at the mercy of countless predators who view them as commodities to be exploited and extorted for maximum financial gain. Abuses against Sub-Saharan migrants and refugees, in particular, are compounded by the failure of the Libyan authorities to address racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia. Libyan law criminalizes irregular entry into, stay in or exit from the country with a penalty of imprisonment pending deportation, without any consideration of individual circumstances or protection needs. Foreign nationals in vulnerable situations, including survivors of trafficking and refugees, are among those subjected to mandatory and indefinite arbitrary detention. Libya has no asylum system, has not ratified the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, and does not formally recognize the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), while de facto allowing the agency to register some asylum seekers and refugees from a limited number of countries. In practice, the overwhelming majority of migrants and refugees are arbitrarily detained as they have never been charged or tried under Libya's migration legislation. They languish indefinitely in detention until they are returned though the International Organization for Migration's (IOM) Voluntary Humanitarian Returns programme, evacuated by UNHCR or forcible deported by the Libyan authorities. While conditions vary across detention centres, they are generally inhuman, fall far short of international standards and, in some cases, may amount to torture. During visits to DCIM detention centres in 2017-2018, UNSMIL staff have consistently observed severe overcrowding, lack of proper ventilation and lighting, inadequate access to washing facilities and latrines, constant confinement, denial of contact with the outside world, and malnutrition. Conditions lead to the spread of skin infections, acute diarrhoea, respiratory tract-infections and other ailments, and medical treatment is inadequate. Children, including those separated or unaccompanied, are held together with adults in similarly squalid conditions. UNSMIL has also documented torture and other ill-treatment, forced labour, rape and other forms of sexual violence perpetrated by DCIM guards with impunity. The fact that women are held in facilities without female guards further facilitates sexual abuse and exploitation. UNSMIL staff found that female detainees are routinely subjected to strip searches by or under the gaze of male guards. Many of those detained at DCIM centres are survivors of horrific abuses by smugglers or traffickers and are in need of tailored medical and psychological support and rehabilitation. They are systematically held captive in abusive conditions, including starvation, severe beatings, burning with hot metals, electrocution, and sexual abuses of women and girls, with the aim of extorting money from their families through a complex system of money transfers, extending to a number of countries. They are frequently sold from one criminal gang to another and required to pay ransoms multiple times before being set free or taken to coastal areas to await the Mediterranean Sea crossing. The overwhelming majority of women and older teenage girls interviewed by UNSMIL reported being gang raped by smugglers or traffickers or witnessing others being taken out of collective accommodations to be abused. Younger women travelling without male relatives are also particularly vulnerable to being forced into prostitution. Countless migrants and refugees lost their lives during captivity by smugglers or traffickers after being shot, tortured to death, or simply left to die from starvation or medical neglect. Across Libya, unidentified bodies of migrants and refugees bearing gunshot wounds, torture marks and burns are frequently uncovered in rubbish bins, dry river beds, farms and the desert. UNSMIL continues to receive credible information on the complicity of some State actors, including local officials, members of armed groups formally integrated into State institutions, and representatives of the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Defence, in the smuggling or trafficking of migrants and refugees. These State actors enrich themselves through exploitation of and extortion from vulnerable migrants and refugees. In addition to detention on the grounds of breaking immigration legislation, migrants and refugees are vulnerable to being arbitrarily arrested and detained, including by armed groups nominally under the control of the Ministry of Interior, in relation to accusations of theft, drug-related offences, sex work, alcohol consumption, and terrorism. Hundreds are thus held, most without charge or trial for prolonged periods or following grossly unfair trials. UNSMIL documented that migrants and refugees held at facilities under the Ministry of Interior, in particular at the Mitiga detention facility controlled by the Special Deterrence Force armed group in Tripoli, are subjected to torture and other ill-treatment, forced labour, prolonged solitary confinement, and inhuman detention conditions.... Details: Geneva, SWIT: OHCHR, 2018. 61p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 15, 2019 at: https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/LY/LibyaMigrationReport.pdf Year: 0 Country: Libya Keywords: Forced Labor Shelf Number: 0 |
Author: United Nations Title: Desperate and Dangerous: Report on the Human Rights Situation of Migrants and Refugees in Libya Summary: Executive Summary Migrants and refugees suffer unimaginable horrors during their transit through and stay in Libya. From the moment they step onto Libyan soil, they become vulnerable to unlawful killings, torture and other ill-treatment, arbitrary detention and unlawful deprivation of liberty, rape and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence, slavery and forced labour, extortion and exploitation by both State and non-State actors. Published jointly by the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), this report describes patterns of serious human rights violations and abuses suffered by migrants and refugees in Libya at the hands of State officials and members of armed groups, as well as atrocities committed by smugglers and traffickers, amid the failure of the Libyan authorities to address these violations and abuses and provide redress to victims. The findings in this report are primarily based on around 1,300 first-hand accounts and other information gathered by human rights officers in UNSMIL between January 2017 and August 2018, including during regular monitoring visits to 11 immigration detention centres in Libya. UNSMIL also visited Nigeria in December 2017 and Italy in June 2018 to interview migrants who had been repatriated or had left Libya. This report traces the entire journey of migrants and refugees through Libya, which is marred by considerable risks of serious human rights violations and abuses at every step of the way. The report documents such violations from the moment migrants and refugees cross Libya's southern border throughout their journey to the northern coast. The journey continues with the perilous Mediterranean Sea crossings, increasingly ending in interception or rescue by the Libyan Coast Guard (LCG) and then transfer back to Libya where migrants face indefinite detention and frequent torture and other ill-treatment in centres unfit for human habitation. Despite the overwhelming evidence of human rights violations and abuses, Libyan authorities have thus far appeared largely unable or unwilling to put an end to violations and abuses committed against migrants and refugees. UNSMIL and OHCHR regret that the Libyan authorities have failed to implement the recommendations included in their joint report "Detained and Dehumanized": Report on Human Rights Abuses Against Migrants in Libya. issued on 13 December 2016. Given the lack of progress in addressing the rampant human rights violations and abuses against migrants and refugees in Libya, their situation has not improved in the past two years, despite overwhelming evidence of horrific abuses and increased attention given to the issue at global and regional levels. Years of armed conflict and political divisions have weakened Libyan institutions, , including the judiciary, which have been unable, if not unwilling, to address the plethora of abuses and violations committed against migrants and refugees by smugglers, traffickers, members of armed groups and State officials, with near total impunity. The vacuum left by the State following the 2011 uprising and armed conflict has been filled by a multitude of armed groups in control of large swaths of Libya's territory, borders, and key installations. These armed groups were increasingly integrated into State institutions without any vetting processes to remove those with problematic human rights records, although the Government of National Accord, following the outbreak of violence in Tripoli in September 2018, has promised to take steps to diminish the influence of armed groups on state institutions. This climate of lawlessness provides fertile ground for thriving illicit activities, such as trafficking in human beings and criminal smuggling, and leaves migrant and refugee men, women and children at the mercy of countless predators who view them as commodities to be exploited and extorted for maximum financial gain. Abuses against SubSaharan migrants and refugees, in particular, are compounded by the failure of the Libyan authorities to address racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia. Libyan law criminalizes irregular entry into, stay in or exit from the country with a penalty of imprisonment pending deportation, without any consideration of individual circumstances or protection needs. Foreign nationals in vulnerable situations, including survivors of trafficking and refugees, are among those subjected to mandatory and indefinite arbitrary detention. Libya has no asylum system, has not ratified the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, and does not formally recognize the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), while de facto allowing the agency to register some asylum seekers and refugees from a limited number of countries. In practice, the overwhelming majority of migrants and refugees are arbitrarily detained as they have never been charged or tried under Libya’s migration legislation. They languish indefinitely in detention until they are returned though the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) Voluntary Humanitarian Returns programme, evacuated by UNHCR or forcible deported by the Libyan authorities. While conditions vary across detention centres, they are generally inhuman, fall far short of international standards and, in some cases, may amount to torture. During visits to DCIM detention centres in 2017-2018, UNSMIL staff have consistently observed severe overcrowding, lack of proper ventilation and lighting, inadequate access to washing facilities and latrines, constant confinement, denial of contact with the outside world, and malnutrition. Conditions lead to the spread of skin infections, acute diarrhea, respiratory tract-infections and other ailments, and medical treatment is inadequate. Children, including those separated or unaccompanied, are held together with adults in similarly squalid conditions. UNSMIL has also documented torture and other ill-treatment, forced labour, rape and other forms of sexual violence perpetrated by DCIM guards with impunity. The fact that women are held in facilities without female guards further facilitates sexual abuse and exploitation. UNSMIL staff found that female detainees are routinely subjected to strip searches by or under the gaze of male guards. Many of those detained at DCIM centres are survivors of horrific abuses by smugglers or traffickers and are in need of tailored medical and psychological support and rehabilitation. They are systematically held captive in abusive conditions, including starvation, severe beatings, burning with hot metals, electrocution, and sexual abuses of women and girls, with the aim of extorting money from their families through a complex system of money transfers, extending to a number of countries. They are frequently sold from one criminal gang to another and required to pay ransoms multiple times before being set free or taken to coastal areas to await the Mediterranean Sea crossing. The overwhelming majority of women and older teenage girls interviewed by UNSMIL reported being gang raped by smugglers or traffickers or witnessing others being taken out of collective accommodations to be abused. Younger women travelling without male relatives are also particularly vulnerable to being forced into prostitution. Countless migrants and refugees lost their lives during captivity by smugglers or traffickers after being shot, tortured to death, or simply left to die from starvation or medical neglect. Across Libya, unidentified bodies of migrants and refugees bearing gunshot wounds, torture marks and burns are frequently uncovered in rubbish bins, dry river beds, farms and the desert. UNSMIL continues to receive credible information on the complicity of some State actors, including local officials, members of armed groups formally integrated into State institutions, and representatives of the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Defence, in the smuggling or trafficking of migrants and refugees. These State actors enrich themselves through exploitation of and extortion from vulnerable migrants and refugees. In addition to detention on the grounds of breaking immigration legislation, migrants and refugees are vulnerable to being arbitrarily arrested and detained, including by armed groups nominally under the control of the Ministry of Interior, in relation to accusations of theft, drug-related offences, sex work, alcohol consumption, and terrorism. Hundreds are thus held, most without charge or trial for prolonged periods or following grossly unfair trials. UNSMIL documented that migrants and refugees held at facilities under the Ministry of Interior, in particular at the Mitiga detention facility controlled by the Special Deterrence Force armed group in Tripoli, are subjected to torture and other ill-treatment, forced labour, prolonged solitary confinement, and inhuman detention conditions. Security forces in Libya, including armed groups integrated into the Ministry of Interior, have used excessive or unwarranted lethal force against migrants and refugees in the course of law enforcement operations, leading to loss of life and injury. Even at liberty, migrants and refugees in Libya are not safe and live under a constant risk of deprivation of liberty and arbitrary arrest, assault, theft, and exploitation by State and non-State actors, who are well aware of their vulnerability and inability to access justice or redress. Migrants and refugees are at risk of arbitrary arrest or capture at checkpoints or on the streets by security forces, members of armed groups and private citizens, even if they have proper documentation. Migrants and refugees are frequently exploited by unscrupulous employers who refuse to pay their wages, knowing that in practice they have no recourse to justice. The lack of liquidity in Libyan banks has left migrants and refugees employed in the public sector such as teaching, nursing and engineering struggling to withdraw their salaries for the past two years. UNSMIL gathered information that sick and injured migrants and refugees, as well as pregnant women in labour, have been turned away from public hospitals. Migrants and refugees whose rights have been abused, including survivors of trafficking and rape, refrain from lodging complaints with the police or prosecution, fearing arrest and re-victimization. While recognizing the significant security and political challenges faced by the Libyan authorities, OHCHR and UNSMIL call on them to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of migrants and refugees and to place respect for human rights at the centre of their approach to managing migration. This includes releasing all migrants and refugees detained arbitrarily, closing all detention centres that fail to uphold minimum standards, guaranteeing unannounced and unimpeded access for human rights monitors, introducing alternatives to detention, and improving detention conditions. The authorities should also clearly signal that atrocities against migrants and refugees will no longer be tolerated, regardless of whether perpetrators are smugglers, traffickers, members of armed groups or State officials. Judicial investigations into violations and abuses committed against migrants and refugees should be undertaken and completed, with a view to holding perpetrators accountable in proceedings meeting international standards for fair trial. Tackling impunity would not only end the suffering of tens of thousands of migrant and refugee women, men and children seeking a better life, but also undercut the parallel illicit economy built on the abuse and exploitation of migrants and refugees. Eradicating this predation on migrants and refugees would reduce a key source of income for criminal gangs and armed groups and help establish the rule of law and national institutions. OHCHR and UNSMIL recommend that the European Union and its Member States step up their search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean Sea and facilitate the life-saving work of rescue vessels operated by humanitarian organizations. They are also urged to put in place measures to ensure that any cooperation with Libyan institutions in the management of migration includes safeguards to ensure respect for international humanitarian, human rights and refugee law, and does not contribute to or facilitate, directly or indirectly, the commission of human rights violations. Any future support should be contingent upon the Libyan authorities showing progress in upholding human rights law and standards. This should include working towards an end to the mandatory, automatic and arbitrary detention of migrants and refugees in irregular situations, stamping out of torture and ill-treatment, sexual violence and forced labour in detention, and ending all return practices that would violate the strict prohibitions on collective expulsion and refoulement. Details: Geneva, Switzerland and Tripoli, Libya: United Nations Support Mission in Libya and United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, 2018. 61p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 1, 2019 at: https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/LY/LibyaMigrationReport.pdf Year: 2018 Country: Libya Keywords: Human Rights Shelf Number: 154765 |
Author: Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime Title: The Human Conveyor Belt Broken - assessing the collapse of the human-smuggling industry in Libya and the central Sahel Summary: This report is a synthesis of the research conducted between May and December 2018 for the monthly briefs under the 'Monitoring the Political Economy of Human Smuggling in Libya and the Greater Sahara' project funded under the North of Africa and Sahel and Lake Chad windows of the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa. The project began in May 2018. However, this report benefits from prior research conducted by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, which enabled us to set the findings in the context of developments that have taken place in the geographies of interest since mid-2017. It follows and is a companion to 'The Human Conveyor Belt - trends in human tracking and smuggling in post-revolution Libya', a document that traces the rapid expansion of human smuggling and trafficking between 2011 and 2016. Details: Geneva, SWIT: Author, 2019. 97p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 8, 2019 at: https://globalinitiative.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Global-Initiative-Human-Conveyor-Belt-Broken_March-2019.pdf Year: 2019 Country: Libya Keywords: Human Smuggling Shelf Number: 155689 |