Libya: several hundred migrants still camp in front of the UNHCR in Tripoli

Hundreds of migrants camp in front of the headquarters of the High Commissioner for Refugees in Tripoli, October 10, 2021. REUTERS - NADA HARIB

Text by: RFI Follow

5 mins

For ten days, they have been asking for their evacuation after the massive arrests of recent weeks.

The situation of sub-Saharan migrants remains inhuman in the country.

Slavery, rape and other violence are systemic.

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On October 2 and 3, the Libyan authorities carried out a so

called " 

 " operation in Gargaresh in the western suburbs of Tripoli, a poor neighborhood where many migrants and asylum seekers live.

Around 5,000 people are arrested,

 including women and children, and sent to detention centers run by the authorities.

There are about fifteen in the country, half of which are in the capital.

According to UN organizations, around 10,000 migrants or asylum seekers are detained in these centers.

A few days later, an incident broke out in one of these overcrowded and unsanitary centers.

Six migrants are shot dead and around 2,000 people escape.

Since then, the international community has urged the Libyan authorities to exercise restraint.

These refugees - who are around 41,000 in the country - have a status and should not be treated as criminals, recalls the High Commissioner for Refugees. 

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For the organization Médecin sans Frontières - which works in several of these centers - migrants are victims of all kinds of abuse and violence, explains Jérôme Tubiana, MSF researcher.

Many are forced to work without being paid, sometimes for years, which is in fact quite simply slavery [...].

Women are systematically raped or forced into prostitution or victims of sexual slavery.

[...] Racism is very high in Libya, black migrants from sub-Saharan Africa are systematically treated like slaves.

Jerome Tubiana

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These abuses are denounced by everyone, and yet the EU continues to collaborate with the authorities in Tripoli.

There is a certain responsibility in particular of the European Union because until now the EU and some of its member states have cooperated with the Libyan actors and not only with the government recognized by the UN but also with militias, with one goal: to prevent migrants from reaching the sea and crossing to Europe.

The European Union finances the Libyan coast guard in a very schizophrenic way.

Jerome Tubiana

In any case, the arrests in Gargaresh created panic, admits an official of the United Nations refugee agency.

More than a thousand people have been camping for ten weeks in front of the UNHCR offices in Tripoli, mainly Sudanese, Ethiopians and Eritreans who ask to be evacuated out of Libya.

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If you are black, you are nothing here 

RFI was able to reach Hassan, a young Sudanese 29 years old.

He has been in Tripoli for three years, he has already attempted the crossing to Europe twice, was arrested by the Libyan coast guard and sent to one of these detention centers.

He recounts his experience.

RFI:

Hassan:

When I left Sudan, I left everything behind.

I wanted a new life.

My plan was to go to Europe and continue my studies.

That's why I came to Libya in January 2019 to try to cross the Mediterranean to Europe.

But once here everything was much more difficult than I thought.

And I got stuck here.

How did you live for three years?

I was living with a Sudanese friend who had found work.

He was washing clothes.

Sometimes I was able to work too.

It was difficult to collect the money to pay for the crossing to Europe.

I tried twice.

And each time, we were caught by the Libyan coast guard, who brought us back.

It was very hard for me, especially the second time, because after that I was in prison for a long time.

What happened to you ?

I stayed there for about five months.

They kept asking me to pay so that they could be released.

Sometimes they mistreated us.

They forced us to call our families - to send us $ 100 or $ 200 - so that we could be released. 

One day, one of the bosses came to ask me if I wanted to work for him, and I followed him.

I worked for several weeks and when it was over he told me he couldn't pay me but that I was free.

So I thanked him and left. 

Do you remember who it was?

One of the top police chiefs in Tarek al Sika prison.

What were the living conditions in this prison?

It was very difficult, the prison was overcrowded.

There were hundreds of people from all over Africa waiting to cross into Europe.  

To eat, we were given only one piece of bread a day;

and there was no water to drink.

There was only sea water. Sometimes the policemen were okay, but if one of us tried to escape, then they would beat everyone.

And you necessarily had to pay to go out?

If you don't pay, you can't get out of these centers.

They are doing everything to exploit you, to get money.

If you refused to pay, sometimes they would beat you, they would film and you had to send this to your family, saying they were going to kill you, throw you into the sea. 

This happens in detention centers, but also outside.

There is no authority, no government.

Everyone is trying to take advantage of you.

If you have a phone, they'll take it from you.

Even the police, if you are black, they stop you in the street, if you have a phone, goods, money, they take it from you.

You know, in Galgaresh, when hundreds of migrants were rounded up, the police stole all their belongings from their homes.

Then they destroyed everything.

If you are black, you are nothing here.

You are nothing.

Interview by Alexandra Brangeon

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• Libya

• International Migration