Foreign
MIGRANTS in Libya have continued to experience violence, extortion and forced labour in the first half of 2021, Amnesty International said in a report released on Thursday.
According to the report, violence starts for many of the migrants from the first contact with the Libyan coastguard at sea.
The coastguard would endanger the lives of migrants with aggressive manoeuvres and by firing shots, the report says.
Once taken to shore, the often traumatised and exhausted people would be hastily loaded onto buses, taken to camps and sometimes beaten or insulted in the process.
In internment camps run under the Libyan Interior Ministry, some migrants continue to face starvation and exploitation.
Some have been injured or killed by gunshots from guards during escape attempts.
In the 50-page report, Amnesty spoke to 53 refugees and migrants who were taken to Libyan internment camps, as well as aid workers, rights advocates and activists.
Amnesty also examined documents, photos and videos from Libyan authorities and the UN.
According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), there were some 575,000 migrants in Libya to 6,200 of which are in camps run by the Directorate for Combatting Illegal Migration (DCIM), the Interior Ministry department highlighted in the report.
Amnesty again criticised the “ongoing complicity of European states’’ with Libya and called for EU cooperation with Libya on migration and border management must be suspended, Amnesty said.
The EU-backed coastguard intercepted around 15,000 people at sea between January and June this year and brought them back to Libya. (dpa/NAN
– July 15, 2021 @ 09:32 GMT
Tags: extortion — Amnesty Migrants in Libya still face violence
