Saturday, September 09, 2017

E.U. cooperating with Libya's criminal regime

The UN has accused the EU of "turning a blind eye" to brutality faced by migrants in Libya. It follows a report from Doctors Without Borders that made similar claims.

UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein Zeid said hundreds of thousands of migrants were suffering at the hands of authorities in Libyan detention centers, adding that the situation had been "appalling" during dictator Moammar Gadhafi's rule but had turned "diabolical" since he was ousted in 2011.

"Some migrants die of thirst, hunger or easily cured illnesses, some are tortured or beaten to death while working as slave labor, others are just casually murdered," Zeid said, going on to details these and other abuses — including the rape of women "in some cases, every night" — in Libyan detention centers.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) President Joanne Liu on Thursday published an open letter describing "the horrific situation" for refugees and migrants in detention centers. Libya's detention of migrants "must be named for what it is: a thriving enterprise of kidnapping, torture and extortion," she wrote in a letter to European governments.

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