Libya detention riot leaves dozens of migrants injured

About 50 migrants have been injured when guards came in to stop a protest by migrants and asylum seekers at a detention centre in Tripoli, Libya, on 26 February 2019.

According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), migrants and asylum seekers in Tariq Al-Sikka detention centre in Tripoli were protesting their detention conditions and the lack of solutions.  Two individuals were badly injured and transferred to a hospital. Some of the guards were also reported injured.

Around 400 migrants were estimated to be in the detention centre at the time of the protest. UNHCR said most of the migrants are Eritreans, with smaller groups of Somalis, Ethiopians and Sudanese. Following the protest, about 120 people were transferred to other detention centres.

“We condemn the use of violence in detention, and ask for urgent access to individuals who have been removed from that detention centre,” said IOM Director of Operations and Emergencies, Mohammed Abikder.

Thousands of migrants in Libya are detained in inhumane conditions in unsanitary overcrowded facilities rife with abuse and violence. Migrants suffer from lack of food, proper hygiene and medicine. They have previously clashed with guards, broke out of detention to protest, and even committed suicide.

“IOM continues to call for alternatives to detention. Placing migrants in detention for irregular entry adds to their many vulnerabilities. The situation is particularly difficult for women and children,” IOM’s Abdiker said. “No matter the circumstances that led to this particular incident, violence against migrants cannot be justified.”

There are about 5,700 migrants currently in detention in Libya. In 2019, the Libyan coastguard has intercepted a further 778 migrants at sea and returned them to Libyan soil to be detained.

The UN has been evacuating the most vulnerable migrants from detention centres in Libya to transit centres in Niger and Romania since November 2017. In the latest evacuation this year on 4 March 2019, UNHCR said it has airlifted 128 migrants to Niger, bringing the total number of those evacuated from Libya to 3,303.

There are a total of 56,484 registered refugees and asylum seekers living in Libya, many of them stranded and unable to return to their countries or continue their journeys across the Mediterranean. UNHCR estimates that more than 400,000 refugees and migrants currently in Libya.

TMP – 16/03/2019

Photo: Anjo Kan/Shutterstock. An abandoned boat used by migrants to cross the Mediterranean