Wed. Oct 9th, 2024

A confidential United Nations report stated that Tunisian border guard forces arrested migrants and handed them over to Libyan border guards, where they were subjected to extortion, torture, murder, and forced labor.

The report, dated January 23, was based on interviews with 18 people previously detained, and photographic evidence of torture in one of the facilities.

The report stated that hundreds of migrants in Tunisia were arrested and expelled to Libya in the second half of last year.

Libyan human rights expert Tariq Lamloum stated that the transfer of migrants began in May, and that Tunisia transferred about two thousand migrants to Libya this year.

The report noted that mass expulsions from Tunisia to Libya increase arbitrary detention, extortion, and violations, which are widespread human rights issues in Libya.

The report confirmed that Libyan officials are demanding thousands of dollars in exchange for the release of some migrants, which exacerbates the exploitation of vulnerable migrants.

For their part, neither the Libyan nor the Tunisian authorities responded to requests to comment on the report

The European Union expressed its readiness to spend 800 million euros until 2024 in North Africa to stop the flow of migrants.

Human rights groups have pointed out that the EU policy leads to abuses and does not address fundamental issues of migration.

The report explained that the migrants interviewed came from Palestine, Syria, Sudan and South Sudan, and that signs of torture were evident on three of them.

The report described conditions in detention centers as “hideous,” where migrants are held in unsanitary conditions and without proper ventilation and are subjected to blackmail in exchange for their release.

The report indicated that border guards burned a Sudanese migrant alive and, in some cases, shot another detainee.

In conclusion, the report called on Libya to decriminalize migrants who enter the country illegally and called for international support to push border management to adhere to human rights.

Egypt denies its agreement to establish an alternative port to the Rafah port and confirms its refusal to allow its forces to enter Gaza

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