Several countries have called on Libya to shut down its migrant detention centers, citing reports of widespread torture, abuse, and killings within the facilities. The appeal was made during a United Nations Human Rights Council session held in Geneva on Tuesday, where the treatment of migrants in Libya came under renewed international scrutiny.
Representatives from the United Kingdom, Spain, Norway, Sierra Leone, and other nations voiced serious concern over the conditions inside Libya’s detention centers, describing them as degrading and unlawful. They urged Libyan authorities to immediately close the facilities and take concrete steps toward protecting migrants’ rights, ensuring accountability, and ending impunity for those responsible for abuses.
Libya has long been one of the main transit points for migrants and refugees attempting to reach Europe by crossing the central Mediterranean. Thousands of migrants are intercepted at sea each year by Libyan authorities, often with the support of European-funded initiatives, and returned to detention centers where human rights groups say they face arbitrary imprisonment, forced labor, and violence.
In a separate open letter to Libyan officials, several international human rights organizations accused armed groups of operating the centers with complete impunity, obstructing courts, and committing serious violations, including torture, unlawful killings, and enforced disappearances. The letter urged the Libyan government to dismantle the system of arbitrary detention and replace it with rights-based migration management policies that comply with international law.
More than a decade after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya remains mired in political division between rival eastern and western administrations. This ongoing instability has left institutions weak and security fragmented, creating an environment where armed factions wield significant influence and often operate beyond state control.
Despite repeated pledges from Libyan authorities to reform the system, little progress has been made. Many detention centers remain under the control of militias, while international organizations continue to warn that conditions in these facilities amount to severe human rights violations.
The UN and several member states reiterated that the only sustainable solution lies in closing the centers, ensuring justice for victims, and establishing humane alternatives that protect the dignity and rights of migrants and refugees.
