Hundreds of migrants returned to Libya this month are at high risk of human trafficking as worsening violence is allowing criminal gangs to thrive, according to the United Nations.
At least 953 migrants headed for Europe were picked up in the Mediterranean and sent back to Libya in the first two weeks of 2020.
Mostly intercepted by Libya’s coast guard, backed by the European Union, they were all taken to detention centres where aid workers clarified they have first-hand testimony of migrants being sold to traffickers.
Libya is a key gateway for Africans trying to reach Europe for years, and about 140,000 migrants and refugees were residing in Tripoli before the fighting broke out last April, according to the International Rescue Committee.
Even before that, migrants were preyed on by armed groups and traffickers, with slavery, rape and torture as human rights experts reported.
“There is no guarantee that prevents refugees and migrants returned to Libyan shores from falling back into the clutches of traffickers,” announced Anais Deprade, a spokeswoman for the international medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF).
“European governments can no longer pretend that Libya is a place of safety where refugees and migrants rescued at sea can be disembarked,” she added.