Related news investigations published by The New Yorker magazine and NBC News have cast the European Union in a critical light for helping Libya catch and detain Europe-bound immigrants fleeing strife in the Mideast, central Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
On November 29, published a report on EU assistance to the Libyan Coast Guard and alleged violations of refugee rights. A similar investigation by last spring also focused on how Frontex, the EU’s border patrol force, helped the Libyans locate migrants attempting to cross via the Mediterranean.
investigation accused the EU of creating a “shadow” immigration system that keeps migrants detained in secretive centers where they are abused by profit-making militias.
Citing human rights groups, The New Yorker report said detainees had been victims of rape, electric shock and other forms of torture, forced to pay ransoms and sold into forced labor.
More than in 2015 and 2016, mostly from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and African countries. Despite the harrowing risks of crossing by sea – thousands have drowned in the attempt – the flow continues toward Spain, Italy and Greece. But the EU cut off maritime rescues nearly three years ago, and now stands accused of using Libya as a surrogate to deter and detain migrants.
Here is how the NBC report described the system:
In response to questions about EU responsibility for the abuses, Josep Borrell, EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, told NBC News the EU only provided humanitarian aid:
“The E.U. Emergency Trust Fund for Africa does not fund the country’s detention centers. However, through its partners, the Commission does provide lifesaving support to detained migrants.”
But based on evidence in the , that is misleading.
The EU has consistently denied its responsibility for the inhumane treatment of refugees in Libya and other front-line countries on migration routes despite criticism from human rights groups.
Libya has become a preferred that come from Africa. The EU’s Emergency Trust Fund program for Africa is a partnership with 26 countries to address “root causes of irregular migration and displaced persons” on the continent. According to the fund's web site, it has spent more than $500 million on humanitarian programs in Libya, including for COVID-19 support.
But while the fund describes its mission as one of "," the reality is far more complex, according to The New Yorker report:
The NBC report said the EU, led by Italy, trained and equipped Libyan security guards accused of abusing refugees. The EU has also lobbied the United Nation’s International Maritime Organization (IMO) to expand Libya’s search and rescue zone in the Mediterranean, NBC said.
As in the earlier Der Spiegel report, the NBC story cited Frontex for transmitting aerial reconnaissance video to Libya’s coast guard:
Both The New Yorker and NBC reports were published in collaboration with , a news nonprofit founded by Ian Urbina, an award-winning investigative journalist. Over 11 months, the project team scoured public documents, interviewed EU politicians and sifted through the social media of Libyan officials to follow the EU money:
Human rights groups have long detailed how Europe-bound asylum seekers who are brought back to Libya are kept in holding centers run by lawless armed militias. stated in its January 2019 report, “No Escape from Hell,” that the EU’s migration cooperation with Libya is creating a “cycle of extreme abuse.”
Briefing the U.N Security Council on November 24, the , Jan Kubis, expressed concern over arbitrary and unlawful detentions and enforced disappearances.
“Many detainees including migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers are subjected to torture, sexual violence, and other grave human rights violations involving State officials, and thousands of detainees are held in secret facilities run by armed groups and human trafficking networks,” Kubis said.
In May, the (OHCHR) weighed in. Its report, titled “Lethal Disregard: Search and rescue and the protection of migrants in the central Mediterranean Sea,” said the plight of refugees in Libya “is not a tragic anomaly, but rather a consequence of concrete policy decisions and practices by the Libyan authorities, European Union (EU) Member States and institutions, and other actors that have combined to create an environment where the dignity and human rights of migrants are at risk.”
The OHCHR report called on the EU to “refrain” from shifting responsibility for search-and-rescue operations to Libya, concluding: