On Sunday, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said that migrants in detention centres in Libya are more vulnerable to infectious diseases, due to overcrowding and unsanitary conditions.
In a statement, the IOM said that it had provided training on COVID-19 to 25 health providers working at detention centres to help mitigate the outbreak of infectious diseases.
In cooperation with the Libyan National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), the international organisation announced that it also had provided a hands-on training for 15 members of the rapid response team in Tripoli. The training covered the topics of infection prevention and control, contact tracing, sampling and data management.
Notably, the Secretary-General of the Arab Organisation for Human Rights (AOHR) in Libya, Abdel-Moneim Al-Horr, said that the humanitarian situation of migrants held in detention centres was extremely dangerous and complicated.
Al-Horr noted that the Government of National Accord (GNA) disclosed it has 23 official detention centres, where the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) and the International Organisation for Migration operate. However, there are reportedly many other shelters and detention centres in western Libya which are unknown to international organisations and therefore more dangerous to migrants.