UN investigators revealed that migrants are being systematically detained in Libya, suffering horrific abuses of killing, torture, and enslavement. Especially women, who are being raped in exchange for food and water.
The United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission in Libya issued a new report on Wednesday, after it made several field visits.
A number of migrants interviewed by the mission, and whose testimonies were quoted in its report revealed that they were “subjected to acts of sexual violence by smugglers, often with the aim of extorting their families.”
The report stated that “the mission has reasonable grounds to believe that there have been crimes against humanity against migrants in Libya.”
Thousands of migrants arriving in Libya with the intention of travelling onwards to Europe are detained in centers supervised by the Anti-Illegal Migration Agency. These facilities are controlled by non-government armed groups, or held by smugglers.
“They are arrested arbitrarily and systematically and are victims of murder, enforced disappearance, torture, and slavery. They suffer sexual abuse, rape, and other inhumane acts,” the report said.
“Migrant women, including minors, are the first victims of sexual abuse, even if it affects men as well. Women say that they were forced to have sexual relations … in exchange for food or other basic items,” it added.
A migrant held in Ajdabiya recounted how her captors forced her to have sexual relations with them in order to give her water for her sick six-month-old baby.
The report stated that “the known risks of sexual violence in Libya have reached such an extent that some migrant women and girls put an IUD in the uterus to prevent pregnancy before travelling. This is to avoid unwanted pregnancies, as a result of these acts of violence.”