According to a statement from the Organization’s mission in Libya, authorities have arrested “thousands of men, women and children on the streets, in their homes or during raids on so-called traffickers’ camps and hideouts.”
The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (MANUL) expressed renewed concern on Monday over the arbitrary detention of migrants and asylum seekers, calling on the Libyan authorities to treat them with “dignity”.
The UN is “concerned about the mass arbitrary detention of migrants and asylum seekers across the country” as authorities have arrested “thousands of men, women and children on the streets, in their homes or during raids on so-called traffickers’ camps and hideouts” , according to a mission press release.
MANUL denounced the detention of “pregnant women and children” in “overcrowded” locations and “unsanitary” conditions, as well as the “mass deportations” of thousands of foreigners — even people who entered the country legally.
Libyan authorities must “end these actions and treat migrants with dignity and humanity,” in keeping with their international commitments, as well as offer UN agencies and NGOs “unimpeded access to detainees in need of urgent protection.” MANUL added.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), there are over 600,000 migrants in Libya. Most have entered the country illegally, through the porous border in the desert. They are often citizens of sub-Saharan African countries.
Plunged into chaos after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in 2011, Libya has become a major hub for the thousands of people hoping to migrate to Europe by sea, crossing the Mediterranean.
Hundreds of migrants, who are intercepted almost daily by the coast guard or the navy in international waters, are forcibly taken back to Libya, where they are locked up in detention centers.
Rival authorities in western and eastern Libya frequently raid areas where refugees and migrants congregate, such as suburbs of the capital Tripoli (west) and Tobruk (east), 120 kilometers from the Egyptian border.
In early June, local media broadcast videos, the authenticity of which has not been verified, showing around a thousand Egyptians being forced to march to the border as they were being deported by eastern Libyan authorities.
More than 7,000 refugees and migrants have been intercepted at sea and taken back to Libya since the start of the year, 368 are missing and more than 600 have drowned off the Libyan coast, according to the IOM. While, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), over 54,000 migrants have arrived on Italian shores, of which over 22,000 departed from Libya.
Source :Skai
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