Migrants face abuse in Libya after EU-backed interceptions

Tripoli, Libya (AFP):

Migrants heading to Europe by crossing the Mediterranean are being detained and ransomed in Libya by European Union-backed authorities who are accused of “extreme abuse” against those captured.

Earlier this month, Human Rights Watch said some 32,450 people had been intercepted by Libyan forces last year and “hauled back to arbitrary detention and abuse” in the war-ravaged country as European countries turned a blind eye.

HRW accused the EU’s border agency Frontex of using a drone to provide information that “facilitates interceptions and returns to Libya … (despite) overwhelming evidence of torture and exploitation of migrants and refugees”.

That chimes with a report in October by United Nations experts, who said acts of “murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment (and) rape” against detained migrants in Libya may amount to crimes against humanity.

None of this has stopped the European Union funding and working closely with the Libyan coast guard to prevent migrants reaching northern Mediterranean shores.

The accusations against Europe are not limited to financial support.

Alarm Phone, a group running a hotline for migrants needing rescue, this month accused Malta of failing to launch operations to rescue migrants in danger, “despite their obligations to do so” under international law.

From the start of January until August 20, almost 13,000 migrants have been intercepted and dragged back to detention in Libya while trying to cross the Mediterranean, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).