On Monday, the U.N. mission in Libya expressed alarm over the arbitrary arrest of migrants and asylum seekers and the surge in hate speech and racist discourse.
The mission stated that Libyan police had seized thousands of men, women, and children from the streets and their homes after operations on alleged traffickers’ camps and depots.
It said thousands of individuals, including children and pregnant women, were collectively removed and imprisoned in overcrowded and unhygienic conditions.
Last week, eastern Libya deported thousands of migrants to Egypt on foot. At a Tripoli roundabout where migrants work, migration police have lately deployed.
About half a million migrants live in Libya, where armed militias rule most of the nation. Others want to work in the oil-financed economy or travel to Europe.
Tripoli Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah and eastern Libyan military commander Khalifa Haftar visited Rome, where Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is trying to curb migrant crossings.
On Monday, officials in eastern Libya apprehended 20 Bangladeshi citizens on a boat trying to cross illegally to Italy and took “all legal measures” against them.
Mohammed Ismail, 48, a Sudanese metal worker who arrived in Libya illegally, said he had been beaten by human traffickers but had legalized his status. He expressed concern about deportations.
An Egyptian plumber in Tripoli said many of his acquaintances had been arrested.
“I’m frightened of detention, kidnapping, being held for ransom and forcible deportation… it’s difficult to survive in Libya,” he stated.
The U.N. mission’s declaration went unanswered by Tripoli’s Government of National Unity and eastern Libya’s municipal administrations.
