A new report details a horrific cycle of killings, torture, and abduction, alleging direct ties between state security forces and criminal trafficking networks.
Migrants in Libya are being subjected to systemic violence, including killings and torture, in a climate of impunity that implicates the very authorities meant to protect them, the United Nations Human Rights Office said in a damning report released Tuesday.
The report, jointly published by the UN Human Rights Office and the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), paints a harrowing picture of suffering. It details how migrants are routinely rounded up and abducted by criminal trafficking networks that often operate with direct ties to official Libyan state security bodies, as well as to criminal groups abroad.
The UN is now calling for an immediate end to the internationally backed practice of intercepting and returning migrant boats at sea, arguing that this policy funnels vulnerable people back into a system of profound abuse.
“It is unconscionable that those fleeing war or seeking a better life are met not with safety, but with a system designed to exploit and brutalize them,” said a spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office. “The level of coordination between trafficking gangs and those in positions of authority points to a systematic failure of protection.”
The report calls on the Libyan government and the international community to take urgent action to dismantle these networks, hold perpetrators accountable, and establish safe, legal pathways for migration to prevent further loss of life and human suffering.
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