Migrants and refugees in Libya

10/05/2022-24/05/2022

120 people were pushed back by Libyan authorities after Malta left them adrift for over two days in its SAR zone.
On 12 May 2022, Alarm Phone reported about approximately 70 people in urgent distress off the coasts of Zuwara, as all the people had fallen in the water. Libyan authorities said they rescued all the people and returned them to Libya, but there is no way to confirm that everyone has been saved and no casualties were registered.
On 11 May 2022, Alarm Phone reported about 18 people in distress off Benghazi. Due to bad communication, they were not able to provide the GPS position. They informed authorities, but no one intervened. The fate of these people remains unknown.

05/04/2022-10/05/2022

So far in 2022, 4,461 people were intercepted by Libyan authorities and brought back to Libya.
On 6 May 2022, Alarm Phone reported about a distress case off Libyan coasts where 34 people were at risk of capsizing due to the strong winds and high waves. Despite multiple alarms, no state authority intervened. A German merchant vessel was in proximity but could not transfer the people on board due to the bad conditions of the sea. Finally, after more than 3 days at sea, the people were rescued by rescue ship Sea-Eye 4.
The International Criminal Court ICC) published the Twenty Third Report of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to the United Nations Security Council Pursuant to Resolution 1970 (2011) “Through work conducted to date in this area, the Office has received a wide
range of credible information indicating that migrants and refugees in Libya
have been subjected to arbitrary detention, unlawful killing, enforced
disappearance, torture, sexual and gender-based violence, abduction for
ransom, extortion, and forced labour. The Office’s preliminary assessment is
that these crimes may constitute crimes against humanity and war crimes”.
EU Commissioner Francisco Gaztelu Mezquiriz said that the Commission’s work with the Libyan Coast Guard is based on a “do no harm” principle and follows a humanitarian scope despite abundant evidence showing how the Coast Guard uses violence and abuses during its operations.

Libyan security forces carried out raids in migrants’ homes in Zuwara and captured about 300 people, who were sent to the Ain Zara detention centre.
On 15 April 2022, the IOM reported of a shipwreck that took place off Libyan coasts where 6 people died and 29 remain missing.
On 10 April 2022, IOM Libya reported that a boat with 20 migrants on board capsized off Libyan coasts: 2 people were rescued, 4 bodies were found and 14 people remain missing.
Migrant Rescue Watch reported that Libyan authorities intercepted 217 migrants in three different operations and disembarked them in Zawiya.

22/03/2022–05/04/2022

In the period of 27 March – 2 April 2022, 362 migrants were intercepted at sea and forcibly returned to Libya by the so-called Libyan Coast Guard.
On 1 April 2022, at least 11 people, 7 women and 4 children – died off Libya. They were travelling on a boat with around 145 people on board that have been adrift for many hours. The boat was intercepted by the so-called Libyan Coast Guard and the people were forcibly returned to Libya.
As of 4 April 2022, 113 people are currently on board the rescue vessel from MSF after a critical rescue and six days on board, awaiting for a safe port of disembarkation.
On 2 April 2022, the vessel ALEGRIA1 rescued 4 people from a boat that capsized in international waters near Libya. The four survivors have been forcibly returned to Libya.

Alarm Phone has been informed that at least 30 people are in distress at sea off Libya.
On Sunday, April 3, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, declared that more than 90 people were drowned in yet another tragedy in the Central Mediterranean and alluded to the double standards adopted by European countries on the issue of refugees.
UN investigators denounced widespread torture in detention centres and investigate the existence of migrant mass graves.
On March 30, Germany announced that its military would no longer provide training to Libyan coast guards because of their treatment of migrants in the country.
On March 31, the Libyan Coast Guard vessel “Ras Jadar” intercepted about 140 migrants and recovered 10 bodies from a heavily overloaded inflatable boat off Qarabolli.

On March 25, the NGO SOS Méditerranée’s ship, the Ocean Viking, rescued 128 migrants on board. Two victims were reported and only one body was recovered. On 28 March, the 109 survivors were able to disembark in Augusta, Sicily.
On March 24, with the help of the International Federation of the Red Cross, 30 people were rescued off Libya.
On 22 March 2022, Libyan, regional and international civil society organisations sent an open letter to social media company urging them to take immediate action to help end an ongoing online defamation campaign targeting human rights defenders in Libya which is putting their lives in real danger.
Alarm Phone and other organisations denounced the death of Samy, who died on 30 March 2022, as a consequence of being tortured in a Libyan camp after he was intercepted and forced back to Libya.

08/03/2022 – 22/03/2022

Between 6 and 11 March 2022, 158 migrants were intercepted and illegally returned to Libya. So far in 2022, more than 3,000 migrants were intercepted by the Libya Coast Guard and returned to Libya.
According to the IOM, over the first two weeks of March, at least 70 migrants have gone missing at sea and are presumed dead off the coast of Libya. On 12 March 2022, at least 20 migrants died in a shipwreck off Libya. Following the shipwreck, patrols of Libyan Special Naval Forces continue to recover bodies.
On 14 March 2022, the Libyan Red Crescent recovered 2 unidentified bodies of migrants washed ashore in Dahla area. The remains were transferred to the morgue in Zawiya Teaching Hospital for completion of proceedings.

22/02/2022–08/03/2022

On 4 March 2022, the Seabird crew of the NGO Sea Watch witnessed an illegal pullback of a about 200 people, probably involving Frontex.

Between 5-6 March 2022, the MSF NGO vessel GeoBarents rescued more than 110 people in distress at sea. A French merchant vessel rescued another 26 people in distress.
Migrants, asylum seekers and refugees continue to peacefully protest in front of UNHCR headquarter in Tripoli asking for protection.
On 2 March 2022, Alarm Phone published its Central Mediterranean Analysis, covering the period between July and December 2021, witnessing a “new level of brutality” against migrants.
Sea Watch’s airplane Sea Bird witnessed a pushback by the Libyan Coast Guard where dozens of people were involved.
So far in 2022, 2,481 people have been intercepted by the Libyan Coast Guard.

The New Arab published an article that analyse the role of the Libyan Coast Guard. Despite the political instability in the country, and the numerous evidence of human rights violations conducted at the hands of Coast Guard members, the Libya Coast Guard remains to this day the only institution in the country that has been systematically rehabilitated since 2011. Inside Libya, the population is split when it comes to the Coast guard: many criticize its work, but others, especially young Libyans in need of income often end up working for security services like the Coast Guard.
EuroMed Rights drafted Input for the Special Rapporteur’s report on human rights violations at international borders: trends, prevention and accountability, available on this link.
On 18 February 2022, the Libyan Stabilization Support Apparatus (a separate security body with naval equipment similar to those of the Coast Guard) intercepted one boat with 80 people on board and killed one person, while injuring several others.

25/02/2022

EuroMed Rights drafted Input for the Special Rapporteur’s report on human rights violations at international borders: trends, prevention and accountability, available on this link.

08/02/2022 – 22/02/2022

On 19 February 2022. Alarm Phone alerted about 68 people in distress in the Maltese SAR zone. For many hours, no authority intervened until they were intercepted by the so-called Libyan Coast Guard.
On 11 February 2022, Alarm Phone reported on a distress case of about 50 people off Libyan coasts. After many hours from the distress signal, the people were intercepted by the so-called Libyan Coast Guard.
The Outlaw Ocean Project reported that on 13 January 2022, one of the most infamous detention centers in Libya – al-Mabani – was officially closed. Most likely, this is the result of a political shift within the DCIM: the former director lost his leadership, and days after al-Mabani – run by a militia that supported him – closed. The new director used to run the center Tarik-al-Sikka, where it seems most migrants from al-Mabani were transferred to. The closure of al-Mabani reflects the “ever-shifting nature of incarceration in Libya and how such transience makes protection of detainees nearly impossible. Migrant detention centers open, close, and reopen from one week to the next. Detainees are moved with little tracking”.

Some refugees detained in the Ain Zara prison, during the raids last January, started a hunger strike to protest against the horrible conditions in which they live.
An article by the Mixed Migration Center shows how some nationalities of migrants are more likely to be intercepted at sea by the Libyan Coast Guard then others. Indeed, the primary nationalities departing from Libya are Sudanese, Bangladeshis and Malians. But besides Bangladeshis, Malians and Sudanese are not the main nationalities of arrivals in Italy. According to the data, it seems that the probability of being intercepted by the Libyan Coast Guard is 71% for Sudanese and Malians, and 31% for Bangladeshis.
The ICMDP hosted a workshop in Tripoli for the new Libyan Focal Points for the Rabat and the Khartoum Processes.

25/01/2022 – 08/02/2022

Oxfam denounced that in 2021, over 20,000 migrants returned by the Libyan Coast Guard to Libya went missing and as many ended up detained in informal centers where their traces are lost.
The journalist Sara Creta reported that 1,000 migrants were collectively expelled in the southern Libyan border to Niger.
Associated Press obtained a leaked report circulated in January to EU officials by Stefano Turchetto, the head of the EU military mission Operation IRINI. The report acknowledges the excessive use of forced by Libyan authorities on migrants and cites the case of an interception at sea carried out by the Libyan Coast Guard where the latter used tactics “never observed before and not in compliance with (EU) training … as well as international regulation”. The report also acknowledges the limitations of the EU’s training program due to the political situation in the country. Despite these concerns, the EU keeps being determined in continuing its relationship with Libyan authorities in the handling of migration.
On 27 January 2022, the DROI Committee of the European Parliament held an Exchange of Views on the ‘human rights situation in Libya and the fundamental rights of migrants’. The speakers presented the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) report “Unsafe and Undignified: The forced expulsion of migrants from Libya”, and the report of the UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Libya (FFM). Among the speakers there were representatives of the European Commission External Action Service and the EU’s Head of Delegation in Libya.

11/01/2022 – 25/01/2022

On 22 January 2022, Alarm Phone shared a distress call from a boat off the Libyan Coasts with 24 people on board. Aircraft from the EunavforMed Irini mission and Maltese authorities were checking on the boat but no one intervened, until they were pushed back by the so-called Libyan Coast Guard many hours later.
On 19 January 2022, the rescue vessel Louise Michel witnessed a pushback by the Libyan Coast Guard which shot at one person who had jumped in the water. It is uncertain whether the person was hit or not.
A new MRCC (Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre) is under construction in Tripoli. The centre is financed with EU budget for 15 million EUR. The centre will be constructed by an Italian company and the equipment has already been transported to Libya by the Italian military ship San Giorgio. Italian authorities will also be present in the centre for 48 months to train Libyan personnel.
On 10 January 2022 Libyan militias raided the informal settlements of about 1,000 refugees in Tripoli, in front of the UNHCR office, where they have been protesting for over three months. Violence was used against refugees, people have been beaten up, shot and tents were set on fire. It seems that the raid was conducted by the DCIM – the Libyan Department Against Illegal Migration – but also militia groups like the Janzour group. More than 600 refugees were then arbitrarily detained in the Ain Zara detention centre. The MSF team who aided some of those detained later communicated to “have treated patients with stab wounds, beating marks, and signs of shock/trauma caused by the forced arrests. Among them there were people who had been beaten and separated from their children during the raids”.
The raids that led to the detention of more than 600 people were the first public actions of the new head of the DCIM, Mohammed Al-Khoja. Al-Khoja is also a militia leader who has been accused of many occasions of trafficking and smuggling of human beings. Moreover, one of the most infamous detention centres where migrants are held – Tarik Al-Sikka – is owned by al-Khoja himself.

14/12/2021-11/01/2022

Refugees in Tripoli have been protesting for over three months now. They demand protection and safety an ask the international community to intervene.
On 26 December 2021, 28 bodies were found 90 kilometres from Tripoli. The bodies were in an advanced state of decompositions, indicating that the shipwreck occurred a few days before.
Libyan presidential elections scheduled for 24 December 2021 were postponed. The House of Representative is now supposed to come up with a new date for elections within 30 days.
More than 160 people drowned in two shipwrecks off the Libyan coasts in the week before 25-26 December 2021. The first boat was carrying over 100 people, the second one about 60. In the same days, the so-called Libya Coast Guard intercepted 210 migrants on a wooden boat. These shipwreck brough the death toll in the Central Mediterranean in 2021 to at least 1,506 victims.
On 17 December 2021, the so-called Libya Coast Guard intercepted a migrants’ boat in the Central Mediterranean using dangerous manoeuvres. The boat tried to escape from the Coast Guard for about an hour, until its engine broke and the people were forcibly pushed back. In 2021, a record number of interceptions were carried out by the so-called Libyan Coast Guard: 32,425 people were pushed back to Libya. In 2020, the number of interceptions was 11,891.

30/11/2021 – 14/12/2021

On 13 December 2021, 176 asylum-seekers were evacuated from Libya to a UNHCR transit centre in Rwanda.
On 10 December 2021, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) released a statement raising concerns on a “series of forced expulsions of asylum-seekers and other migrants in Libya, including two large groups of Sudanese over the past month, with another group of 24 Eritreans apparently at imminent risk of similar treatment”. The statement also calls on the international community to ensure human rights due diligence in any operational and financial support to Libya on migration and border management. On 25 November 2021, the OHCRC published the report Unsafe and Undignified: The forced expulsion of migrants from Libya highlighting the high risk of arbitrary and collective expulsions for migrants and refugees from Libya’s external land borders.
On 5 December 2021, violence erupted outside the UNHCR office in Tripoli where migrants have been protesting since October. Migrants lit a fire in front of the office and when police intervened, violence escalated. Previously, on 24 November 2021, Libyan forces had burnt down the tents where refugees where sheltering. Refugees demand that their rights be respected while their situation keeps worsening.
On 2 December 2021, the UNHCR announced that its Community Day Centre in Tripoli will close by the end of the year due to the continued protests and turmoil that took place in front of it in the past two months. The UN agency announced that it is working to develop alternative solutions to keep providing medical, psychological and legal assistance to asylum-seekers in Tripoli.
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, Gaddafi’s son, won an appeal to the Court in Sebha and is running again for elections. Previously, the electoral commission had disqualified his candidacy, together with 24 others, because those candidates did not have a clean criminal record. Saif al-Islam Gaddafi is also wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes.
The Outlaw Ocean Project and the New Yorker published on 28 November 2021 an extensive publication on the situation of migrants in Libya. The publication is the result of an 11-months investigation that shows how “from the minute the migrants are brought ashore by the Libyan Coast Guard, EU money is used at virtually every step of the way to pay for how they are handled”. The research focuses on the Al Mabani detention center in Tripoli, the so-called Libyan Coast Guard and on the fate of migrants in the country. The authors of the reports have themselves been beaten and incarcerated in Tripoli with the accusation of ‘illegally’ talking to migrants.
The Mixed Migration Centre just published a report on the impact of Covid-19 on the EU’s Mediterranean Migration Policies focusing on Libya. The report is available here.

16/11/2021 – 29/11/2021

The protest of migrants and refugees in front of the UNHCR building in Tripoli which started almost 60 days ago continues.
The so-called Libyan Coast Guard were seen shooting on a distressed migrants’ boat in the Maltese SAR zone on November 24th. According to Alarm Phone, 85 people were on board and they were pushed back to Libya, in breach of international obligations.
On the 23rd of November, the UN Special Envoy in Libya Jan Kubis unexpectedly resigned, precisely a month before the presidential elections.
On the 23rd of November 2021, the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights, the International Federation for Human Rights and Lawyers for Justice in Libya, in collaboration with survivors, filed a communication to the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity committed against migrants and refugees in Libya. They also published a report which is available here.
On the 18th of November 2021, the so-called Libyan Coast Guard threatened to hijack the rescue vessel of the NGO Sea Watch who was in international waters, 40 miles from the Libyan coast. Later the same day, the Coast Guard also forced Sea Watch to stop its engine under threat of shooting it.
The UNHCR said on Friday the 18th of November 2021 that the so-called Libyan Coast Guard intercepted 302 migrants and disembarked in Tripoli and Zawiya. So far in 2021, 30,104 people were intercepted and pushed back to Libya according to the IOM.
On the 17th of November 2021, 75 people died in a shipwreck off the coasts of Libya. Only 15 survived and were rescued by fishermen who brought them to Zwara.
EU Commissioner Ylva Johansson met with Libyan vice president of the Presidential Council Moussa al-Koni to discuss migration management in the country. She described the meeting as open and constructive and repeated the EU’s commitment to support Libya in managing its borders.
All candidacies for the 24th December elections have been presented. The total amount of candidates is 98, including Aguila Saleh (current president of the House of Representative), Abdulhamid Dbeibah (current Prime Minister), Fathi Bashagha (former Minister of Interiors), and Khalifa Haftar. On the 24th of November 2021, the election commission rejected the candidacy of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, one of Gaddafi’s sons.
The New Humanitarian released an interactive guide to the Search and Rescue situation in the Mediterranean. The guide shows the different scenarios and actors involved in the SAR operations in the Central Mediterranean, as well as the outcomes (shipwrecks, interceptions, rescues) resulting from the various scenarios.

25/10/2021 – 15/11/2021

The so-called Libyan Coast Guards have carried out an unprecedented number of interceptions, with 28,636 people being forcibly returned to the country since the beginning of 2021.
From over 40 days, migrants and asylum-seekers have been protesting outside the UNHCR office in Tripoli to denounce the inhuman conditions they face in the country.
On the 7th of October 2021, the Council of the European Union released the Migration Action Plan for Libya. The Action Plan stresses the EU engagement in continuing strengthening the capacity of the “Libyan Coast Guard”, working with EUBAM Libya and Frontex to step up Libya’s border management capacity in close collaboration with the proposed Team Europe Initiative on the Central Mediterranean route. It mentions also that other EU financial instruments, such as the AMIF and the Border Management and Visa Instrument (BMVI), may contribute to the external dimension of migration. As concern the next steps to be taken, the Plan mentions a strengthening of the cooperation between the AU, EU, and UN especially regarding evacuation flights to Niger and Rwanda and the establishment of a Migration Dialogues platform after the Libyan elections.
On the 12th of November, and international conference on Libya was held in Paris. The main issue on the table was the presidential election of December 24th. During the same week, Libya opened the registration for election candidates. There are some talks that controversial actors like Saif al Islam and Khalifa Haftar could register as candidates. Current Prime Minister Dbeibah could also run for elections. International actors fear that elections are under pressure because of resumed turmoil between local factions. Some fear that some of the factions will not recognize the vote and conflict will escalate. Another conflictual element on the ground is the presence of foreign troops and mercenaries. On the 11th of November, eastern-based forces stated that they would repatriate 300 foreign mercenaries. However, the UN estimates the numbers of foreign fighters in the country to be around 20,000.

05/10/2021 – 25/10/2021

Between 3 and 16 October 2021, 882 people have been intercepted at sea and forcibly returned to Libya by the so-called Libyan coast guard. Between 17 – 23 October, 846 migrants were intercepted at sea and returned to Libya. On 23 October 2021, 198 people on two boats were brought back to Zawiya and Tripoli.
On 22 October 2021, the MSF rescue ship Geobarents rescued 36 people from a wooden boat in international waters and another 65 people from a rubber boat in distress. There are currently 296 rescued people onboard the GeoBarents.
On 15 October 2021, EuroMed Rights, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, the Libya Platform and the Association for Juridical Studies on Immigration (ASGI) denounced the unprecedented level of violence against migrants and refugees in Libya, where more than 5,000 migrants have been detained in the raids, including many children and women, and at least 6 people were killed. In Shara Zawiya detention centre, MSF team witnessed more than 550 women and children crammed into the cells, including pregnant women and newborn babies, and around 120 people sharing just one toilet. MSF also denounced that “many of those captured were reportedly subjected to severe physical violence, including sexual violence”. Since 4 October 2021, the UNHCR office in Tripoli closed due to the mounting tensions while hundreds of refugees gathered in front of UNHCR office asking for protection. The UN Refugee Agency on 22 October 2021, said that “The Libyan government must immediately address the dire situation of asylum-seekers and refugees, in a humane manner, consistent with international human rights law”.
At least 15 people died off Sabratha, Libya, when a boat with around 105 people on board capsized. Alarm Phone had alerted the authorities several hours earlier but no one rescued the people in distress. On 6 October 2021, at least 17 bodies have been washed ashore on a Libyan beach from a deadly shipwreck off Libyan coasts.
On 12 October 2021, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies and the Libya Platform published their semi-annual update on the human rights situation in Libya, Peace process and legitimacy of elections in Libya threatened by lack of accountability and rule of law.
Despite the continued violations and abuses documented in Libya, the European Commission recently announced its aim to deliver new ‘P150’ class patrol boats to the Libyan coast guard that will be used to intercept and forcibly return migrants, asylum seekers and refugees to the horrors of Libya.

23/09/2021 – 05/10/2021

Several organisations denounced the current inhumane practices of deportations of migrants from Sub-Saharan countries from Tunisia to Libya. These deportations involve many women, including pregnant women, and children and the last one happened on 27 September 2021, involving around 100 people. Several human rights violations have been documented, including threats, lack of medical assistance, ill-treatment and violence, and arbitrary arrests and detention.
On 1 October 2021, Libyan security authorities carried out raids against thousands of migrants, including hundreds of women and children, in the western town of Gargaresh, near Tripoli, and detained 4,000 of them. During the operations, one migrant was killed and 15 others injured. According to the UN, unarmed migrants were harassed in their homes, beaten and shot. A Libyan government official said authorities would “deport as many as possible” of the migrants to their home countries. EuroMed Rights reiterated that the only solution is to open humanitarian corridors to allow people to escape Libya’s violence and mistreatment. Watch Migration and Asylum Programme Officer’s, Sara Prestianni, interview on AlJazeera.
On 4 October 2021, the Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Libya released a report providing evidence of war crimes committed since 2016 in Libya while violence against migrants in prison may amount to crimes against humanity.
On 3 October 2021, according to UNHCR, the Libyan Coast Guard intercepted and returned to Libya more than 550 migrants on board two boats. On 2 October 2021, 89 people, including 8 women and 3 children, were forcibly returned to Tripoli. 2 dead bodies were retrieved. 40 others are still missing and fear dead.
Doctors without Borders (MSF) has resumed its operations Tripoli’s detention centres almost 3 months after they suspended medical activities in those centres.
Between 19-25 September, 865 migrants were intercepted at sea and returned to Libya by the so-called Libyan Coast Guard. 25,285 people were forcibly returned to Libya so far in 2021.
On 30 September 2021, the UN Security Council voted to extend the UNSMIL (UN Mission in Libya) until after the country’s elections in late December.
On 26 September 2021, notorious Libyan human trafficker, Abdel-Rahman Milad (known as Al-Bidja), has been appointed as Officer at the Libyan Naval Academy and as Head of the Coast Guard in the western region by the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA).
Sea-Watch published its July 2021 Airborne Monthly Factsheet with an overview of the operations conducted and the people and boats in distress at sea.

19/08/2021 – 06/09/2021

On 2 September 2021, the Sea-Eye 4 rescued 29 people, including four babies and two nine-months pregnant women, who now need an urgent safe port of disembarkation.
In just one week, between 22-28 August, 1,131 migrants were intercepted at sea and forcibly returned to Libya.
On 28 August 2021, the rescue vessel Astral of the NGO Open Arms rescued 103 people in distress at sea in the Central Mediterranean.
On 22 August 2021, at least 16 people, including a woman and a child, died in a shipwreck off Zuwara, 48 others survived.
An interview to Tarik Lamloum from the Libyan NGO Belaady on the human rights situation in Libya.
According to the IOM Libya Migrant Report May-June 2021, “88% of migrants reported that economic reasons were the primary motive behind their migration to Libya”.

27/07/2021 – 19/08/2021

In just two days, on 30-31 August 2021, more than 1 000 migrants were intercepted by the so-called Libyan Coast Guard and forcibly returned to Libya. In the period of 08-14 August, 1,788 migrants were intercepted at sea and forcibly returned to Libya, reaching a total of 22,045 people returned to Libya so far in 2021, according to IOM Libya.
On 27 July 2021, the so-called Libyan Coast Guard threatened to arrest the crew onboard the NGO vessel SeaWatch3 falsely accusing them of being in the Libyan exclusive zone over which they have jurisdiction. However, the Libyan SAR zone is international waters, not Libyan waters, and do not represent an exclusive right of intervention.

5/07/2021 – 27/07/2021

On 26 July 2021, a deadly shipwreck off Khums, Libya, caused at least 57 deaths, including 20 women and two children.
On 15 July 2021, Amnesty International denounced , in a report, the European complicity in “horrific violations, including sexual violence, against men, women and children living in Libyan detention camps after being returned from the Mediterranean”.
On 21 July 2021, at least 20 people drowned off Libya and over 230 others were intercepted and forcibly returned to Libya. On 12 July 2021, in two shipwrecks off Libya and Tunisia, at least 20 people died.
On 14 July 2021, in a common statement, the African Union, the European Union and the United Nations raised concerned “about the nearly 6,000 of the most vulnerable migrants and asylum seekers currently arbitrarily detained in detention centres by the Libyan authorities”. At the same time, according to a leaked paper seen by the EUobserver, the EU is planning a military mission to Libya.
Between 4-10 July 2021, 326 migrants were intercepted at sea and forcibly returned to Libya. In just three days, between 20-23 July 2021, more than 1,500 people were intercepted by the so-called Libyan coast guard. According to a recent report from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), Migrant deaths on maritime routes to Europe, more than 31,500 people were intercepted or rescued by North African authorities in the first half of 2021, including over 15,300 people who were forcibly returned to Libya in the first six months of 2021 (three times more than the same period in 2020).

21/06/2021 – 05/07/2021

Between 1-3 July 2021, the bodies of at least 20 people, including a child and a woman, were washed ashore in Libya.
On 22 June 2021, following continuous violence against detained migrants in Libya’s detention centres, MSF announced that it is forced to suspend their activities in Mabani and Abu Salim detention centres.
Almost 15,000 people were forcibly returned to Libya in the first six months of 2021 – a record-high number.