Libya, mass graves: silent witnesses of human trafficking and detention camps

The latest discovery in Libya, in the al-Jahriya valley about 421 kilometers south of Tripoli, of 65 bodies thrown into a mass grave reopens a concerning chapter of Libyan history, shedding light on the deep migratory crisis plaguing the country and turning it into a theater of silent violations of human rights affecting millions of lives.

For years, Libya has been one of the main routes for migrants from other countries such as Sudan, Ethiopia, Chad, or Niger, who seek to reach the shores of the Mediterranean Sea to cross it and attempt to reach Europe. However, for many of these individuals, Libya is not merely a transit point but rather an inhumane limbo where they are exploited, abused, and often left to die without name or dignified burial. In fact, it is an area of intense activity by human traffickers, even referred to as “the smugglers of the dunes”, who profit from the widespread political chaos in Libya, organizing and managing the migrants' long and risky journeys, often through desert borders—a route that has proven to be deadly.

"Migrants tell us that the desert is a much larger cemetery than the Mediterranean Sea". These are the words spoken by Alberto Preato, a representative of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), in 2017 while more human bodies were being exhumed from some mass graves found during that time. According to testimonies collected by the IOM in 2017 and by various NGOs and social networks more recently, migrants and refugees are bought and sold, forced to demand large sums of money from their families, while undergoing various forms of torture, from physical to psychological, with a clear limitation of their rights as human beings. Regarding women, they often suffer sexual assaults, rapes, and are frequently forced into sexual slavery. Individuals who are unable to pay are killed or left to die of hunger.

Migrants and refugees who survive and manage to leave Libya, if intercepted at sea by the Libyan Coast Guard, are brought back and, in accordance with Law No. 19 of 2010 on combating illegal immigration, which criminalizes the entry and stay of migrants in Libya, are transferred to detention centers.

After years of investigation, an independent UN fact-finding mission declared last March that there is no doubt that migrants and asylum seekers endure inhuman conditions, torture, forced labor, mistreatment, and sexual assaults in arbitrary and indefinite detention controlled by both eastern and western Interior Ministries and by structures controlled by human traffickers. Moreover, there have been numerous cases of collusion between Libyan authorities, armed groups nominally integrated into security forces, and criminal organizations. Indeed, "the exploitation of migrants is undoubtedly among the most profitable businesses in Libya's war economy", as stated by the United Nations.

Another important aspect highlighted in the UN mission's report casts a shadow on the European Union's immigration management: it appears that the EU and its member states have directly or indirectly provided financial and technical support for equipment, such as boats, to the Libyan Coast Guard and the Directorate for Combating Illegal Migration, which have been used in the interception and detention of migrants, encouraging the commission of crimes perpetrated within the detention centers.

As these atrocities continue to emerge, it is clear that funding, rather than actual action to stop such human rights violations, is no longer a solution: what is needed is controlled regular immigration, in compliance with the principle of non-refoulement and the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration, as the beginning of a path to stabilize Libya.

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Translated by Stefania Errico