Amnesty International reports plight of migrants in Libyan camps, forced sex for clean water

Last updated on July 23rd, 2021 at 05:38 am

 Migrants in Libyan detention camps are living a horrific life, said Amnesty International on Thursday. The global human rights watchdog said the migrants in camps are subjected to extreme sexual violence by guards. Many times they are forced to trade sex for food, clean water and access to sanitation. The report focused on migrants who were intercepted in Mediterranean Sea and landed in Libya in 2020 and 2021. It underlines that the situation is worsening with each day even though the camps have recently been put under control of Libyan interior ministry.

Women shared their plight with Amnesty as they told how the guards raped them in camps in exchange of clean drinking water. One told the guards would say, “Maybe you want fresh water and beds … let me have sex with you, so I can free you.” Pregnant women in camps are repeatedly raped by guards, men were forced to sleep only in underwear in an attempt to humiliate them, while young boys shared of being repeatedly groped, prodded and violated.

The inhuman treatment of these migrants is being going on since 2017 when reports of beatings, torture, lack of food, clean water and sanitation surfaced.

The report comes after Amnesty interviewed 53 refugees and migrants, all of who are aged between 14 and 50. The majority of these migrants are from Somalia, Syria and Nigeria.

The Libyan coast guard, funded by European Union has intercepted and returned some 15,000 people to Libya in first six months of 2021. This number exceeds the total of year 2020. Amnesty estimates that at least 6,100 people were transferred to these detention camps by end of June. Many EU lawmakers have called for European Commission to stop funding to Libyan coast guard citing the country is unsafe for migrants.