The Libya INGO Forum, representing 16 INGOs providing assistance in Libya, calls the European leaders to stop enabling the system of arbitrary detention and ensure the full protection of the thousands of refugees and migrants in the war-torn country.
While the EU claims to have solved the proclaimed migration crisis by “protecting and saving lives”, the INGOs have continuously reported the humanitarian consequences of the migration policies. The ongoing transfers of refugees and migrants to detention centres that have been bombed or suspended due to the deteriorating condition is deeply alarming. It provides further evidence that the Libyan authorities are not guaranteeing the safety and well-being of the population, confirming once again that the country is not a safe port for disembarkation.
Detention centres in Libya must close and those arbitrarily held must have access to safe and legal alternatives to detention. INGOs have repeatedly called the European Union and the UN to urgently implement concrete mitigating measures compliant with the mandatory Human Rights Due Diligence Policy (HRDDP) and the internationally recognized humanitarian standards. In the absence of any progress some INGOs have already suspended operations as their presence in the centers risk causing harm.
As long as arbitrary detention in Libya continues, members of the INGO Forum in Libya will act upon humanitarian responsibility and ensure their service provision is accountable to humanitarian principles and human rights standards. The INGOs are revising their redlines in order to provide lifesaving aid in detention centers and decrease the risks of legitimizing the inhumane and harmful practice.
More than 3,000 people continue to be confined in detention centres in close proximity to the escalating conflict where gross human rights violations are reported with alarming regularity, and trafficking operations enable to expand.
Europe and the United Nations committed at the EU-AU-UN summit in 2017 to facilitate the necessary mechanisms to upscale resettlements and evacuations in accordance with humanitarian and legal standards. Yet, the media has repeatedly brought to light the ongoing rioting of those held in arbitrary detention, who demand for UNHCR and IOM, the UN agencies mandated to provide protection to refugees and migrants.
According to IOM and UNHCR estimates, over 70% of those currently detained are people of concern - refugees and asylum seekers -, entitled to protection in a safe country. In the absence of safe and legal alternatives, the proposed solutions for those in detention - to be released in Libya where they are at risk to be detained again or caught up in an escalating conflict, or to be returned to the countries they fled in search of safety – contradict international standards.
Despite the deteriorating security situation in the country and the reported limitations to provide protection, the number of interceptions by the EU-funded Libyan Coast Guard more than doubled since the start of the conflict in April. The tragic shipwreck on 25 July where over a 100 refugees and migrants lost their lives and dozens were brought back to detention is a stark reminder that interceptions by the Libyan Coast Guard is in contradiction to international human rights law and fundamental principles of the law of the sea, which require disembarkation at the nearest safe port.
The INGO Forum in Libya calls the European Union and the humanitarian community for an urgent change towards a principled approach that upholds humanitarian and human rights standards:
- The international community and humanitarian actors to jointly advocate for the Libyan authorities to end detention without due process in conditions that fail to uphold minimum international standards.
- The EU and the humanitarian community must implement mitigating measures in accordance to the internationally recognized humanitarian standards and in compliance with the mandatory Human Rights Due Diligence Policy (HRDDP) promulgated for the Libyan context. HRDDP mitigating measures were endorsed by the United Nations on October 2018 based on the risk assessments for the Libyan Coast Guard (LCG) and the Detention for Combating Illegal Migration (DCIM) conducted in 2017 and 2018.
- The international community and UN actors to advocate for the Libyan authorities to release all refugees and migrants held in detention to safe alternatives. The Libyan authorities to authorize the establishment of alternatives to detention and provide protected legal status to refugees and migrants in Libya.
- Safe countries must offer immediate resettlement and voluntary humanitarian evacuation places. IOM and UNHCR must advocate for and ensure due process to relocate refugees and migrants to a safe country where access to protection and minimum humanitarian standards are met. Currently, the existing mechanisms are not adapted to the emergency context in Libya.
- The EU, its Member States and all UN actors must immediately suspend all support, whether direct or indirect, to the Libyan authorities that enable the interception of refugees and migrants at sea and their subsequent forced return to Libya.
- Independent humanitarian search and rescue operations must be decriminalized and reinstated in the Mediterranean Sea, along with and in cooperation with the EU and Member States efforts engagement to save lives and combat trafficking