Libyan security forces and militias in Tripoli have used unlawful lethal force and other violence in an unprecedented roundup of over 5,000 men, women and children from Sub-Saharan Africa and are holding them in horrid conditions where torture and sexual abuse are rampant, said Amnesty International. 

On 1 October, armed men from militias and security forces affiliated with Libya’s Interior Ministry violently broke into homes and temporary shelters in the Gargaresh area in Tripoli, home to a sizable population of refugees and migrants, firing rounds of live ammunition, damaging belongings and stealing valuables. Terrified migrants and refugees, including several registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), were then transferred to detention centres in Tripoli, where they are denied regular and confidential access to UNHCR and other humanitarian agencies and subjected to torture and other ill-treatment. 

“Libyan forces have a harrowing record of subjecting refugees and migrants to unimaginable horrors with impunity. Using unlawful lethal force to capture thousands of unarmed men, women and children solely on the basis of their race is a new low and lays bare the authorities’ utter disregard for the lives and dignity of refugees and migrants,” said Diana Eltahawy, Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.

“We urge the Libyan authorities to immediately release all those arbitrarily detained solely on the basis of their migration status and to launch investigations into all incidents of unlawful use of force, torture and sexual violence. In the interim, authorities should ensure that those in detention are treated humanely, held in conditions that meet international standards and granted unimpeded access to UNHCR and other humanitarian actors without delay.”

To document the raid and its aftermath, Amnesty International spoke to witnesses, victims and family members, and examined dozens of videos and photographs shared by witnesses and published online of the raid and detention centres. While Amnesty International was unable to independently geolocate the videos, the location of interviewed witnesses was verified.

Violent raids, unlawful use of lethal force, xenophobic arrests 

According to eyewitnesses and video analysis, in the early hours of 1 October, armed men wearing uniforms with logos of the Interior Ministry and two affiliated militias, the Security Directorate’s Support Force and the Public Security Agency, whose role in violations against migrants and refugees has previously been documented by Amnesty International, arrived in Gargaresh. Some were riding in armoured vehicles with mounted weapons and fired live rounds at unarmed refugees and migrants as they began to arbitrarily arrest thousands of Sub-Saharan Africans. 

Witnesses told Amnesty International that they saw at least three men being shot and falling to the ground lifeless.  According to a statement by Georgette Gagnon, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Libya, at least one man was killed, while 15 sustained gunshot wounds. Using live ammunition against unarmed people posing no imminent threat to life or injury is a gross human rights violation and can constitute an arbitrary deprivation of the right to life.

Witnesses said the armed men targeted people on the basis of their race. One man who managed to escape told Amnesty International: “They arrested anyone who is black.” A woman told Amnesty International that when she attempted to show her UNHCR registration, an armed man tore it before arresting her and taking her to a detention centre run by the Directorate of Combatting Illegal Migration (DCIM), a department of the interior ministry responsible for policing migration.

Migrants and refugees told Amnesty International that armed men beat and kicked them, ransacked houses and stole money and belongings. Women reported that armed men groped them during the raid. 

The Interior Ministry issued a statement claiming that the raid was part of a “plan to attack criminal hideouts” used for “distributing drugs and alcohol and shelter undocumented migrants” and announced plans to deport the captured “irregular migrants.” 

Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity Abdelhamid al-Debiba visited Gargaresh following the raid claiming that the goal of the operation had been to “clean the area of alcohol, drugs and prostitution.” He made no mention of casualties or plans to investigate. 

Since the raid, security forces and militias have been carrying out further arrests of refugees and migrants from across Tripoli. 

Inhumane detention conditions

The United Nations estimated that as many as 5,000 migrants and refugees have been arrested since the raid, further exacerbating already dire conditions in DCIM detention centres.

DCIM guards and militiamen, nominally under control of the Interior Ministry, have subjected those detained since the 1 October raid to abuse, ill-treatment and sexual assault. Detainees and family members reported being beaten and kicked with sticks and backs of rifles.  A video received on 3 October from a detention centre, analysed by Amnesty International, shows men in camouflage beating detainees and forcing them to run and squat.

A woman detainee in al-Mabani DCIM detention centre told Amnesty International that male guards had sexually assaulted several girls and women. Another woman detainee in Shara’ al-Zawiya detention centre said she was forced to strip naked in front of male guards, who then searched and groped her.

Videos from both the al-Mabani and Share’ al-Zawiya detention centres showed extremely overcrowded and filthy hangers. In one video, a detainee appears to have collapsed while others are seen banging on the door for guards to save him. 

Detainees also said DCIM guards did not provide them with sufficient food or clean water, and they were forced to urinate and defecate inside the hangers where they were held. One woman detainee in al-Mabani told Amnesty International that she and her children were drinking toilet water. 

Amnesty International has previously documented how DCIM guards and militia members routinely subject migrants and refugees to torture and other ill-treatment, cruel and inhuman detention conditions, extortion and forced labour in al-Mabani and Shara’ al-Zawiya detention centres.

Living in fear

As a result of the raids, many migrants and refugees in Tripoli went into hiding or became homeless, as they are unable to return to their homes for fear of arrest or because their homes were destroyed during the attack. The Tripoli Security Directorate of the Interior Ministry issued a statement on 4 October calling on employers and landlords to register foreign workers. The social media page of the Hay Al-Andalus municipality, which encompasses Gargaresh, said that authorities had evicted around 7,000 “illegal migrants.” 

Following the raid, dozens of migrants and refugees went to the Tripoli Community Day Centre of UNHCR calling for protection and shelter. Two told Amnesty International that on 5 October men in military clothes ordered them to leave and beat them. Amnesty International examined a video consistent with these allegations. A woman who went into hiding after the raid told Amnesty International: “all we want is security, we cannot even go out to buy food or work, our babies are starving.”

Refugees and migrants are trapped in Libya with no safe ways out. Libyan authorities have suspended a number of evacuation flights out of Libya in 2021. This year, only 1,311 migrants returned to their countries of origin through programmes by the International Organization for Migration, while only 212 refugees were resettled elsewhere. Amnesty is aware that at least one woman and two children, among those arrested during the raid, were scheduled for evacuation out of Libya, but their flight was indefinitely postponed. 

EU cooperation

Despite overwhelming evidence of the harrowing violations against refugees and migrants in Libya, the European Union and its member states, in particular Italy, have, for years, financed and trained Libya’s coast guards to stop migrants and refugees from crossing the Mediterranean to Europe and bring them back to indefinite arbitrary detention in life-threatening conditions.  Since the Gargaresh raid, at least 645 people were intercepted at sea by the Libyan coast guards and brought back DCIM detention. 

We have called time and time again on the European Union and its member states to look at the deadly consequences of their containment policies and stop enabling Libyan authorities to intercept people at sea and forcibly return them to a vicious cycle of abuse. People seeking security are paying the price for the EU-sponsored system, built with the aim of keeping refugees and migrants out of Europe at all costs.

Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International

Amnesty International urges the EU and member states to urgently suspend any co-operation with Libya on migration and border control. They must ensure that any future cooperation is contingent upon Libyan authorities ending the policy of arbitrary detention of migrants and refugees and effectively investigating abuses against them. The EU and its member states must also open additional safe and legal routes into Europe, through the offer of a meaningful number of places for resettlement and alternative pathways for protection for the thousands of people in need of protection stranded in Libya.

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Responding to journalists Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov winning the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of their fight for freedom of expression in the Philippines and Russia respectively, Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International, said:  

“Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov’s Nobel Peace Prize win is a victory not only for independent, critical journalism in The Philippines and Russia, but for the fight for justice, accountability and freedom of expression all over the world. 

“For more than three decades, Maria Ressa has worked tirelessly as a journalist in the Philippines, carrying out vital investigative reporting on corruption, abuses of power, and human rights violations in President Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly so-called war on drugs. As the co-founder of Rappler, a highly lauded and uncompromising online news site, she’s opened the world’s eyes to the brutality and pervasive impunity in the Philippines. Put simply, she is a global icon for press freedom. 

“Dmitry Muratov has been a rock for free media in Russia, his newspaper producing hard-hitting, fearless journalism in the face of mortal danger in the country’s increasingly perilous press environment. He is one of the few who continue to hold power to account. We salute the indefatigable professionalism and courage not only of Mr Muratov, but of all those Russian journalists who have suffered while carrying out their professional duties.  

“The Russian and Philippines authorities must take note of Dmitry Muratov’s and Maria Ressa’s Nobel Peace Prize win and end their relentless attack on press freedom.” 

Background 

In January 2012, Maria Ressa co-founded Rappler, an online news website critical of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and his administration’s murderous “war on drugs”. She also serves as the publication’s CEO.  

Under the Duterte administration, Maria Ressa, former journalist Reynaldo Santos and Rappler’s directors have collectively faced threats and multiple lawsuits and investigations, including alleged tax violations and violations of the prohibition against foreign control over mass media. 

In June 2020, Maria Ressa was found guilty of “cyber libel” after being convicted under the controversial Philippines Anti-Cybercrime law. For this conviction and if she is found guilty under a myriad of other charges she faces up to sixty years in prison. Amnesty International was among numerous rights groups around the world that condemned her conviction as an attack on press freedom.   

Dmitry Muratov co-founded Novaya Gazeta in 1993 and has been its editor ever since. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least six of its journalists, including Anna Politkovskaya, have been murdered during the course of their professional duties.  

Dmitry Muratov and his Novaya Gazeta colleagues have over the decades provided essential public interest information to Russia society, in the continuing face of attacks, threats and imprisonment.  

In recent months an increasing number of media organizations and journalists have been designated “undesirable organizations” or “foreign agents”, either halting their work or imposing severe administrative and financial constraints. 

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Responding to the Human Rights Council’s adoption of a resolution recognizing the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, Amnesty International’s Law and Policy Director Ashfaq Khalfan said:

“This resolution brings hope in the context of widespread and increasing climate disasters, and is a milestone moment in the battle against environmental degradation. With the adoption of this resolution, the HRC has finally acknowledged that the enjoyment of human rights depends on the environment we live in. When the planet suffers, so do we, and all over the world environmental degradation is robbing people of their rights.

“Government failures to protect the planet, and the ongoing support for environmentally destructive industries, amount to an assault on human rights on a massive scale. We welcome the long-overdue adoption of this resolution, and now call on states to ensure it translates into real change by recognizing this right in law at a national level, and by strengthening their environmental laws and policies.

“We also welcome the adoption today of the resolution establishing the mandate of a Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Climate Change. Both resolutions are the result of continued efforts of a broad range of state and non-state actors, including human rights defenders from all over the world. They will both make it easier for the UN to support states in improving their performance on environmental issues.”

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Amnesty International’s “Write for Rights” campaign takes place annually around 10 December, which is Human Rights Day (commemorating the day when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted in 1948). Write for Rights aims to bring about change to the lives of people or communities that have suffered or are at risk of human rights violations. Among the many actions that take place as part of Write for Rights, Amnesty raises cases of individuals, groups and communities with decisionmakers who can change the situation, gives visibility to those cases by organizing public actions, and brings international attention through media and internet exposure.

This human rights education activity can take place in a variety of settings, such as a school classroom, a community group, a family group, an activist group, online or offline. As a facilitator, you can adapt the activity to best suit the needs and context of the group you are working with. For example, you may want to consider what knowledge the group already has about the issues discussed, the size of your group and how to best organize the activity to allow for active participation, the physical setting of your activity and any limitations. When participants take action on a case, discuss with them whether it is safe for them to do so – why or why not?

The activities are all based on participatory learning methods in which learners are not merely presented with information, they explore, discuss, analyze and question issues relating to the cases. This methodology is very important for the wider learning objectives because participants will:

develop key competencies and skills

have the opportunity to form their own opinions, raise questions, and gain a deeper understanding of the issues presented.

take control of their learning, and shapes discussions according to their interests, abilities and concerns.

have the space required for them to engage emotionally and develop their own attitudes

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Women on death row have, in many cases, been denied justice for the prolonged physical and sexual violence and abuse they have suffered, which preceded and triggered the offences for which they were convicted for, Amnesty International said ahead of the World Day Against the Death Penalty (10 October).

“Many women have been convicted and sentenced to death in shoddy, unfair trials that have often failed to follow due process or consider mitigating factors, such as long-term abuse, violence and sexual assault,” said Amnesty International’s senior director for research, advocacy and policy, Rajat Khosla.

“By sentencing these women to death, justice systems around the world are not only perpetuating an abhorrent and cruel punishment, they are also making women pay the price for the authorities’ failures to address discrimination. In addition, a lack of transparency around the use of the death penalty means the cases we know of are just the tip of the iceberg.”

In many cases, the failure of authorities to act on specific complaints and end discriminatory practices have created a culture of abuse that women on death row have had to endure, meaning that these women continue to be further marginalised as they move through the criminal justice system.

Noura Hussein Hamad Daoud, from Sudan, was sentenced to death in April 2017 for the murder of the man she was forced to marry at the age of 16. After she was forced to wed and move into his home three years later, the man with help of two of his brothers and a male cousin violently beat her and held her down while he raped her. Amnesty International, along with other organizations, campaigned on behalf of Noura and eventually her death sentence was commuted. Others, however, have not been as fortunate.

In 2018, Amnesty International documented the execution of a Kurdish woman Zeinab Sekaanvand in Iran. She was a child when she married, and endured years of sexual violence at the hands of her husband and brother-in-law, before being arrested at 17 on charges of murdering her husband and convicted in a grossly unfair trial.

In some countries including Ghana, the mandatory death penalty for certain crimes, such as murder, has prevented some women from raising their experience of gender-based violence and discrimination as mitigating factors at sentencing. In Malaysia, an overwhelming majority of women on death row, in particular women who are foreign nationals, are there for drug trafficking, for which the death penalty is mandatory.

Until every country has abolished the death penalty, we will not stop campaigning for its end. Together we can help to consign this cruel punishment to the history books forever”

Rajat Khosla

“By the end of last year, 108 countries had fully abolished the death penalty. Thankfully the world is moving away from the idea that states have the power to deny the right to life. But until every country has abolished the death penalty, we will not stop campaigning for its end. Together we can help to consign this cruel punishment to the history books forever,” said Rajat Khosla.

On World Day Against the Death Penalty, Amnesty International is calling for people to take action and support a legislative proposal to abolish the death penalty in Ghana for most crimes. The organization is asking people to show their support by writing to Ghana’s Speaker of Parliament or Minister of Justice; spreading the word online using #Ghanavoteforabolition; and reaching out to their own member of parliament.

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