A joint report released by the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights reveals harrowing details of “systematic and cruel” abuses targeting refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers between January 2024 and December 2025.
International Calls for Accountability and Ending Forced Returns
The United Nations has urged Libyan authorities to release all those arbitrarily detained and to work toward decriminalizing illegal entry or exit while ensuring that perpetrators of these crimes are held accountable. In this context, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk described the migrants’ plight as an “unending nightmare” fueled by greed. At the same time, Hanna Tetteh, Special Representative of the Secretary-General, warned that detention facilities have become breeding grounds for violations. The report further appealed to the international community and the European Union to suspend the return of migrants to Libya and to link any financial or technical support to strict compliance with human rights protection standards.
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Exploitation Networks and Arbitrary Detention Mechanisms
The report highlighted the involvement of criminal human trafficking networks, some suspected of ties to local and foreign entities, in kidnapping migrants and forcibly separating them from their families. Victims are transported at gunpoint to detention centers lacking any legal oversight, where they are subjected to routine abuses, including enslavement, torture, forced labor, and financial extortion for their release, in addition to the confiscation of their personal documents and belongings for resale..
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Live Testimonies and Maritime Crossing Risks
The report documented shocking testimonies from approximately 100 individuals from 16 countries in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, including Eritrean women who suffered brutal and repeated sexual violence that, in some instances, led to death from severe bleeding. Furthermore, the UN criticized the methods used by Libyan entities to intercept migrants in the Mediterranean, describing them as dangerous maneuvers characterized by excessive force. This results in the victims being forcibly returned to the same cycle of exploitation within Libya, in clear violation of international law and refugee law, which guarantees the right to protection and asylum.