Migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers in Libya are trapped in a “violent business model” built on systematic abuse, according to a new report released in Geneva by the UN Human Rights Office and the UN Support Mission in Libya.
Covering the period from January 2024 to December 2025, the report documents widespread human rights violations, including killings, torture, sexual violence, trafficking, forced labour and slavery-like practices. It concludes that exploitation of migrants in Libya has become “business as usual”, driven by criminal networks operating with alleged links to Libyan authorities and partners abroad.
Based on interviews with nearly 100 migrants from 16 countries across Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, the report describes how people are abducted, separated from their families and detained without due process, often at gunpoint. Many are transferred to both official and unofficial detention facilities, where abuse is described as routine and systematic.
Survivors detailed extreme violence, including rape, forced prostitution, ransom demands and extortion. Women and girls were among the most vulnerable, with accounts of repeated sexual assaults, torture and, in some cases, deaths resulting from untreated injuries. Detention centres were described as environments where armed men operated with impunity, using violence to intimidate and control detainees.
The report also highlights the dangers faced by migrants attempting to cross the Central Mediterranean. Interceptions by Libyan actors were often conducted using excessive force, placing lives at serious risk. Those intercepted are frequently returned to Libya, where they face renewed cycles of detention and abuse.
Additionally, the report condemns collective expulsions from Libya, warning that forced deportations are carried out without individual assessments, violating international human rights and refugee law and exposing migrants to the risk of refoulement.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said the abuses amount to a “never-ending nightmare” fuelled by profit and impunity. Hanna Tetteh, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Libya, stressed that detention facilities have become breeding grounds for gross violations.
The report urges Libyan authorities to release all arbitrarily detained migrants, end dangerous interception practices and ensure accountability. It also calls on the international community, including the European Union, to suspend returns to Libya until effective human rights safeguards are in place.
