The treatment reserved for migrants who, in Libya's detention centres, wait for the chance to board a vessel and cross the Mediterranean, is "atrocious". And the support that European nations provide to this system is "shameful". So much so that the governments of the Old Continent can be considered "accomplices".

A regime of total impunity for jailers in Libya's detention centres

This damning indictment is contained in a report published by Amnesty International on 14 July, which highlights the inhumane conditions in which migrants are forced to live. "This chilling document sheds light on the suffering of people intercepted at sea and returned to Libya. Where they are immediately and systematically subjected to arbitrary detention, torture, sexual violence, forced labour and other forms of exploitation. All of this in a climate of complete impunity," denounced Diana Eltahawy, Deputy Director of Amnesty International for the Middle East and North Africa.

Amnesty International USA ✓ @amnestyusa

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Libya is not a safe place for migrants and refugees.

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The non-governmental organisation therefore issued an appeal to Libya's authorities, calling for the immediate closure of detention centres. At the same time, it addressed the executives of the European Union, denouncing their "complicity". Starting with support for the Libyan coast guard in intercepting people at sea and returning them to the hell of detention in the North African country.

"Europe must suspend cooperation with Libya"

In the report, Amnesty International states that at the end of 2020 the Libyan Directorate for Combating Illegal Migration, which falls under the Interior Ministry, effectively "legitimised" human rights violations. It took control of two detention centres that until that point had been run by groups of militiamen. In one of these centres, some witnesses spoke of rapes and sexual relations granted "in exchange for food or freedom".

AJ+ ✓ @ajplus

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People held in Libya's migrant camps have been denied food and face rampant sexual violence from guards, reports @Amnesty — some forced into sex for water.

Victims include pregnant women and children.
The EU-funded coast guard has forced 6,000+ people into such camps this year.

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The non-governmental organisation therefore called on Europe to "suspend cooperation with Libya on migration flows and border control" and to "urgently assist the thousands of people who are detained and in need of protection".