Amnesty International has indicted European governments for supporting the torture and abuse of refugees and migrants in Libya.
In a report, the human rights group stated that the EU has been actively providing funds for the training and logistics to the Libyan coastguard, which is working with criminal gangs and people smugglers who are guilty of a range of abuses, with the knowledge of EU officials.
It alleges that the drive to stem migration has resulted in “mass, arbitrary and indefinite detention” of refugees and migrants. Refugees and migrants intercepted by the Libyan Coast Guard are sent to detention centres run by Libya’s general directorate for combating illegal migration (DCIM).
According to the BBC, Amnesty said about 20,000 people were currently detained at these centres, and it had testimony showing detainees were subject to “torture, forced labour, extortion, and unlawful killings” at the hands of authorities, traffickers, and militias.
“Tens of thousands are kept indefinitely in overcrowded detention centres where they are subjected to systematic abuse,” said John Dalhuisen, Amnesty’s Europe Director.
“European governments have not just been fully aware of these abuses; by actively supporting the Libyan authorities in stopping sea crossings and containing people in Libya, they are complicit in these abuses.”Speaking to Amnesty, one man from the Gambia who was detained for three months said he was starved and beaten.
“They beat me with a rubber hose, because they want money to release me. They call the family while beating [you] so the family send money,” he said. The human rights group said it believed it had enough evidence to take EU governments to court.
Libya became a lawless country after Nato-backed forces overthrew long-serving ruler Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in October 2011, with a myriad armed militias vying for control.
