Libya and human trafficking

The coasts of Libya are the last point of departure for migrants, refugees and asylum seekers, mainly from sub-Saharan Africa, to reach Europe. Before reaching their destination, they must avoid three obstacles that entail great risks: the Sahara desert, Libya’s notorious detention centres and the central Mediterranean. Some succeed, others fall by the wayside. To all this must be added the European Union’s migration policy, which invests millions of euros to prevent people fleeing war, extreme poverty and political persecution from leaving the African continent.

Libya is politically unstable. It is a failed state, but it is very rich in oil and has great strategic value. Successive civil wars have torn the country apart. There are two governments. Tripoli, recognized by the United Nations and militarily supported by Turkey; and Benghazi, led by General Khalifa Haftar, an ally of Russia. Moscow controls three military bases in the western region and has deployed mercenaries from the Wagner Group. In this chaotic scenario, the mafia involved in human trafficking is moving like a fish in water.

During the long and dangerous journey to the sea, refugees and migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa pass from one group of smugglers to another, facing all kinds of extortion and violence. There are two main routes. One via Sudan, used by people from the Horn of Africa and neighbouring countries, and the other via Niger, used by citizens of West African countries, particularly from the Sahel region. In both cases, they travel for several days through the desert.

like cattle

Traffickers transport men, women and children like cattle in small trucks under the scorching sun, with almost no food or water. If the vehicle breaks down, they stay there, certain to die. The same happens when a refugee or migrant falls into the sand while driving. The driver does not stop. It is common to find bodies on the road or in polluted wells. Witnesses gathered by human rights organizations testify to this. Those who manage to reach the Libyan border are taken to government detention centers or secret prisons scattered across the country. Unsanitary and overcrowded cells.

There, the detainees are subjected to “cruel, degrading and humiliating treatment,” according to the UN. They are denied adequate medical care and are not given enough food and water. Traffickers try to extort as much money from them as possible. One of the most effective extortion techniques is to record the torture on the victim’s mobile phone and show the footage to their family members to make them pay more money.

There are documents that record what happens there, and they are not small in detail. Three examples: “You will die here”, by MSF; “On this journey, no one cares if you live or die”, a report jointly produced by the UN, the International Organization for Migration and the Mixed Migration Centre (CMM); and the book Cuando lo Tryé por cuarta vez nos ahogamos by Irish journalist Sally Hayden (Captain Swing).

EU funding

The detention centers will also house refugees and migrants intercepted at sea by the Libyan coastguard, a police force that has no qualms about shooting at small boats on rescue missions or at the boats themselves. The EU is funding the ships the Libyans use and training the officers, at a cost of around €60 million. “The EU is paying Libya to do its dirty work,” said Francesco Bassetti, a migration researcher at the think tank CIDOB. “It is doing this without any control over this money, and it knows very well what is happening in the detention centers.”

Brussels’ economic agreement with the government of Tripoli, although it is not known how the banknotes from the box are distributed, or whether the bags are also filled by traffickers or militias operating in the country. Bassetti points out that “the EU’s migration policy clearly shows the contradiction between the values ​​that Europe claims to defend and its real actions”. “The EU is an indirect accomplice in what is happening in Libya. This inhuman policy is ineffective. More migrants and refugees will continue to arrive and more will die in the attempt”, the researcher said.

Human trafficking from Libya is a business that crosses the borders of Africa into Europe. Libyan commercial planes flying from Tripoli and Benghazi have transported Indian nationals to Nicaragua, Le Monde reported. Once in Managua, the migrants, who want to enter the United States clandestinely, pay fees to Nicaraguan authorities. In doing so, the Central American country’s President Daniel Ortega, a foe of Washington, is adding to the migratory pressure at the U.S. border.