Libya

EU policies and action have facilitated the containment of tens of thousands of people in Libya, a country where they have been exposed to appalling abuse, say 13 organisations in support of a complaint to the EU Court of Auditors.

Many people are still trapped in captivity and suffering abuses in Libya a year after Italy struck an EU-backed deal with the government to stop irregular migrants. Migrants who have managed to escape Libya following the deal have told Oxfam and its partner Borderline Sicilia of on-going kidnapping, murder, rape and forced labor.

On the sidelines of the AU-EU summit in Abidjan, the United Nations, the African Union and the European Union have announced they will put in place a joint task force to save the lives of migrants and refugees in Libya. But at the same time, European support for the Libyan coastguard contributes to stopping and returning people who are trying to escape the hell they are facing in Libya, a policy Oxfam condemns. 

EU measures to block migrants in Libya leave people in danger, Oxfam says in reaction to the decisions of EU leaders at their summit in Brussels today.

Rape, torture and slave labor are among the horrendous daily realities for people stuck in Libya who are desperately trying to escape war, persecution and poverty in African countries, according to a new report by Oxfam and Italian partners MEDU and Borderline Sicilia.

France is unlikely to be able to guarantee safety and human rights for asylum seekers in Libya, Oxfam said in reaction to French plans to set up a processing centre in Libya for asylum seekers in the North-African country.

While EU governments are meeting in Tallinn today to approve plans for more cooperation with Libya in order to stop people from entering Europe, Oxfam and its partners are hearing new accounts of murder, torture and other horrific abuses being suffered by refugees and other people who have fled through Libya - a place they call “hell”.

As G7 foreign ministers meeting in Lucca, Italy, failed to reach agreement on sanctions, Oxfam has called for a renewed push on Syria peace talks. 

EU leaders in Malta say they are committed to human rights and international law, but their support for a deal that Italy has struck with Libya exposes refugees and migrants to suffering and death, Oxfam says.