#abu_

#abu_ghraib

Oil and gas multinationals avoid up to $2 billion in taxes in Mozambique

TotalEnergies and ENI are set to avoid up to $2 billion in withholding taxes in Mozambique – more than the country’s annual healthcare spending – research by SOMO and CDD reveals. The oil and gas giants fail to pay their fair share of taxes in the African country because they rout their investments through letterbox companies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Mozambique could prevent these practices by cancelling or renegotiating its outdated tax treaties with tax havens like the UAE and Mauritius. Several other African countries have successfully done so already.

TotalEnergies (France) and ENI (Italy) lead two megaprojects in Mozambique to exploit gas reserves in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, constituting the biggest investments in Africa to date. Both multinationals established letterbox companies in the UAE to channel their consortium’s multi-billion-dollar investments, taking advantage of the 0 % interest withholding tax rate in its tax treaty with Mozambique. The investments are backed by loans from public investment banks, export credit agencies and commercial banks worldwide. If the loans for these megaprojects had not been routed through the UAE, Mozambique could have charged a 20 per cent withholding tax on nearly all related interest payments, which amounts to $1.3 – $2 billion.
publication cover - The treaty trap: tax avoidance in Mozambique’s extractive industries
Publication / July 21, 2023
The treaty trap: tax avoidance in Mozambique’s extractive industries
The miners

The backdrop for these gas projects is Mozambique’s northernmost province of Cabo Delgado, an economically marginalised region where a violent insurgency has wreaked havoc since 2017. The discovery of gas and the resulting increase in inequality in the area has been a key driver behind the conflict.

Treaty shopping using complex corporate structures
The use of UAE-based letterbox companies by TotalEnergies and ENI are just two examples of treaty shopping, depriving Mozambique of much-needed tax revenue. SOMO found similar tax avoidance structures by mining companies Vale, Kenmare and Gemfields, which are estimated to have avoided an $117 million in Mozambican taxes between 2017 and 2022. The tax treaties with the UAE and Mauritius are estimated to have cost Mozambique $315 million in 2021 alone, SOMO calculated in a March 2023 report.

Following these revelations, SOMO delved into the details by studying the tax practices of specific companies in the Mozambican gas and mining sectors. Besides the gas projects, case studies include Gemfields, a UK miner extracting rubies in Montepuez and the Irish mining company Kenmare Resources, which operates the Moma titanium mine. On paper, both companies control their operations in Mozambique from Mauritius, taking advantage of a tax treaty that allowed them to avoid approximately $20 million in dividend withholding taxes between 2017 and 2022. Finally, there is the case of Vale and Mitsui & Co., who avoided approximately $96.9 million in interest withholding taxes associated with their Nacala Logistics Corridor between 2016 and 2020 through a financing structure routed via the UAE.

Unfair and outdated tax treaties
It is imperative that Mozambique steps out of these unfair tax treaties, curbing corporate tax avoidance and safeguarding its people’s interests. Nelsa Langa (Research Assistant at CDD): “Mozambique should free itself from these outdated tax treaties, which cost the country dearly while providing little benefit. Senegal, Kenya, Lesotho and Rwanda have all successfully renegotiated or cancelled tax treaties with tax havens Mauritius.”

Mozambique is rich in natural resources, with vast deposits not only of fossil fuels but also minerals that are of key importance for the energy transition. Amidst the exploding demand for these minerals, it is crucial to address tax avoidance promptly to prevent replication.

Vincent Kiezebrink (Researcher at SOMO): “Multinational companies need to stop abusing Mozambique’s tax treaties to avoid taxes in one of the world’s most vulnerable countries, and tax haven governments such as the UAE and Mauritius need to allow Mozambique to renegotiate these harmful tax treaties.”

The Mozambican government has the tools to stop this widespread tax avoidance. By renegotiating or terminating its tax treaties with Mauritius and the UAE, it could limit companies’ opportunities for tax avoidance.

▻https://www.somo.nl/oil-and-gas-multinationals-avoid-up-to-2-billion-in-taxes-in-mozambique

Defekte am Regierungsflieger Baerbock bricht Pannenreise nach Australien ab
▻https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/annalena-baerbock-bricht-pannen-reise-nach-australien-ab-a-0dfee713-b344-410
C’est la fin. Même notre super-intelligente ministre des affaires extérieures ne peut rien y changer. Vol de ligne.
▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FMGYycBAMU&pp=ygUNZG9vcnMgdGhlIGVuZA%3D%3D

15.08.2023, 06.34 Uhr
- Es geht nicht weiter: Nach zwei Pannen an der Regierungsmaschine hat Annalena Baerbock ihre geplante Reise nach Australien abgesagt. Die in Abu Dhabi gestrandete Außenministerin kehrt nun nach Berlin zurück – per Linienflug.

Nach den wiederholten Pannen mit ihrem Regierungsflugzeug bricht Außenministerin Annalena Baerbock ihre geplante Reise zu einem einwöchigen Besuch in der Pazifik-Region ab. »Wir haben bis zuletzt geprüft und geplant, aber leider war es nicht mehr möglich, die geplanten Reisestationen der Indo-Pazifik-Reise nach dem Ausfall des Flugzeugs der Flugbereitschaft mit den noch verfügbaren Optionen logistisch darzustellen«, sagte ein Sprecher des Auswärtigen Amts am Dienstagmorgen.

Da die Landeklappen nicht wie nötig vollständig und synchron eingefahren werden konnten, konnte das Flugzeug die normale Reiseflughöhe und -geschwindigkeit nicht erreichen – der Kerosinverbrauch auf der langen Strecke nach Australien wäre deutlich gestiegen. Da das Flugzeug für den knapp 14-stündigen Flug vollgetankt war, musste das Gewicht für die Landung stark reduziert werden.

Ein zweiter Versuch scheiterte in der Nacht. Der Flieger war nach dem Start um 1.00 Ortszeit (23.00 Uhr MESZ) in Abu Dhabi zu Anfang zwar gestiegen, nahm aber kein Tempo auf. 15 Minuten nach dem Abheben drehte der Airbus vom Typ A340-300 dann erneut vom Kurs ab und flog zurück in Richtung des Wüstenemirats, wo er schließlich um 2.57 Uhr Ortszeit wieder landete.

Laut Angaben aus ihrer Delegation hätte Baerbock wegen der defekten Luftwaffen-Maschine eigentlich am Vormittag von der Hauptstadt der Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate, Abu Dhabi, mit ihrem Tross per Linienflug direkt zur australischen Metropole Sydney aufbrechen sollen. Doch das erwies sich offenkundig als nicht praktikabel.
Schwere Entscheidung

Noch in der Nacht waren Baerbocks Delegation und die mitreisenden Journalisten gebeten worden, sich zur Abfahrt zum Flughafen um 08.00 Uhr in der Lobby des Hotels zu treffen. Die zu diesem Zeitpunkt völlig überraschende Entscheidung zum Abbruch der Reise fiel erst, als der gesamte Tross bereits abfahrbereit in der Lobby stand.

Aus der Delegation war von einer am Ende schweren Entscheidung die Rede. »Das ist alles sehr misslich«, hieß es. In den kommenden Monaten werde es darauf ankommen, den entstandenen Schaden wieder gutzumachen. So müssten voraussichtlich hochrangige Beamte nach Australien, Neuseeland und Fidschi zu Gesprächen und wichtigen Terminen reisen. Die abgebrochene Reise müsse nachgearbeitet werden. Der Indo-Pazifik bleibe Schwerpunkt für die Bundesregierung.

Baerbock war am Sonntag zu einer einwöchigen Reise nach Australien, Neuseeland und Fidschi aufgebrochen. Auch bei der Golfreise der Außenministerin im Mai hatte es technische Probleme mit der Regierungsmaschine gegeben . Damals musste Baerbock ihren Aufenthalt im Emirat Katar um einen Tag verlängern, weil der Luftwaffen-Airbus wegen eines platten Reifens nicht wie geplant den Rückflug antreten konnte.

Dans le même genre et au même endroit vous avez « Dehors, dehors, dehors, les chiens de l’Autorité (palestinienne) dehors ! »

▻https://twitter.com/abeer_alkalil8/status/1395719765763760129

#merci, @cdb_77 !
combien de vies il faut pour explorer tout ça ?…

#Palestine #israel #Espionnage #Illégal #Emirats_arabes_unis #Bahrein #Oman #Arabie_Saoudite #Abu_Dhabi

Migrants en Libye : « Je sais qu’il y a une chance sur deux de mourir »

A Tripoli, les exilés africains qui espèrent rejoindre l’Europe sont pris en tenaille entre les institutions – voies légales mais lentes -, les réseaux de passeurs - option coûteuse et dangereuse - et les centres de détention des autorités locales.

Ils sont plusieurs centaines de milliers d’exilés à être pris au piège en Libye. Leur geôle a quatre murs, contre lesquels ils se fracassent tour à tour. D’abord la Méditerranée, cette mer qui les sépare de l’Europe, surveillée par les gardes-côtes. Puis le Département de lutte contre la migration illégale et ses centres de détention aux mains des milices. Il y a aussi le réseau des passeurs et des trafiquants qui représentent à la fois leur pire cauchemar et l’espoir, jamais éteint, d’un ticket de sortie de l’enfer. Le dernier mur, enfin, est celui du Haut Commissariat aux réfugiés des Nations unies (HCR). Une issue de secours légale, mais bouchée (lire page 9). Les quotas de réinstallation dans des pays d’accueil, ridiculement bas par rapport aux besoins, ne permettant pas d’évacuer les réfugiés à un rythme suffisant.

Michel Vumbi Mogambi a presque 70 ans. Quand il est arrivé en Libye, voilà vingt ans, il n’avait aucune intention de poursuivre sa route jusqu’en Europe. Le Congolais fuyait les combats dans son pays : la riche Libye de Kadhafi offrait à l’époque du travail et un bon salaire. Aujourd’hui, ruiné et rattrapé par la guerre, il prie pour sortir d’ici, silhouette voûtée parmi les fidèles de l’église San Francesco de Tripoli. A la sortie de la messe, le vieil homme est agité, sa chemise tachée de sang. La nuit dernière, des hommes en treillis ont défoncé sa porte, l’ont déshabillé, battu pour qu’il leur donne son argent. Son ami Peter, le mécanicien, s’est fait voler 1 800 dinars (environ 400 euros au marché noir). Leur voisin de chambrée, le Soudanais Habib Ali, 500 dinars. Et le vendeur égyptien du bout de la cour 5 000 dinars. Michel n’avait pas d’argent. Il a tenté de se cacher dans les toilettes, nu.
« Vers qui voulez-vous vous tourner ? »

La vingtaine d’hommes célibataires venus de toute l’Afrique qui partagent cette petite allée du quartier de Gargaresh ont tous été arrêtés, frappés, embarqués, puis relâchés au petit matin. Chacun a des blessures à montrer. Récentes, après la bastonnade de la veille ; anciennes, qui racontent une vie d’exil ; parfois cruelles, marques évidentes de tortures. Les serrures de leurs habitations ont été défoncées à coups de crosse. Les petites chambres taguées ont été retournées, à la recherche d’un billet, un bijou ou d’un téléphone dissimulé. « Les policiers étaient encagoulés, mais j’ai pu lire "Département de lutte contre la migration illégale" sur leurs uniformes noirs, dit Habib Ali. Quand ce sont les autorités elles-mêmes qui vous rançonnent et vous kidnappent, vers qui voulez-vous vous tourner ? »

Michel est officiellement demandeur d’asile, enregistré au HCR. Mais sa petite carte plastifiée de l’ONU, qu’il sort sans arrêt de sa pochette, ne le protège pas : la Libye n’a jamais ratifié les conventions de Genève. Sur son territoire, les réfugiés n’ont aucune existence officielle.

Ayoub Qassem est le porte-parole de la marine nationale libyenne. Il n’y a pas d’électricité, ce jour-là, dans la base navale d’Abou Sitta, sur la rive de Tripoli : son bureau est plongé dans la pénombre. Les lourds rideaux laissent tout juste filtrer une lumière bleutée qui donne au militaire formé en URSS un aspect de créature des profondeurs. « La migration clandestine est la dernière facette du colonialisme, assène-t-il. Partout, il y a des pions qui travaillent pour les intérêts de l’Occident. C’est l’Europe qui a créé un rêve dans la tête des Africains, afin d’éviter qu’ils ne développent leurs pays. Ils sont comme des papillons attirés par la flamme ! Mais qui va nous protéger, nous, les Libyens, contre cette invasion ? » Le vieil officier triture sa moustache, fulmine, soudain inarrêtable dans sa logorrhée complotiste et anti-impérialiste : « L’ONU est complice, elle a besoin de ces crises pour faire sa propagande et se lamenter sur le sort des migrants. »

Depuis 2012, affirme-t-il, 80 000 personnes ont été « secourues », c’est-à-dire interceptées, par ses gardes-côtes. Une activité qui occupe 90 % de leur temps et de leurs ressources. Les équipages ont été en partie formés par Sophia, la mission de l’Union européenne, mais aussi par des experts espagnols. « Notre partenaire le plus sérieux est l’Italie, affirme Ayoub Qassem. Quand le pays ferme ses portes, cela nous aide. »
Torture et viols systématiques

La majorité des départs, en cette période de l’année, a lieu depuis les plages à l’est de Tripoli, à proximité de la ville de Khoms. Près de 6 000 migrants ont été arrêtés en 2019 dans les eaux libyennes. Plus de 600 sont morts noyés. « Quand on critique les ONG, on donne l’impression qu’on est contre les migrants en tant que personnes, soupire Massoud Abdelsamad, à la tête du Centre de sécurité maritime. Mais je vous parle simplement en technicien : plus il y a de bateaux de sauvetage en mer, plus il y a des tentatives de traversée. On sait que des passeurs surveillent la position des navires humanitaires sur les sites de trafic maritime et qu’ils envoient leurs embarcations de migrants dans leur direction. »

Ella (1) a pris la mer à deux reprises. A chaque fois, la jeune Erythréenne a été refoulée vers cette Libye qu’elle « ne veut plus voir ». Chétive, le regard brûlant, elle dit : « Je suis venue jusqu’ici ici pour aller en Europe. C’est mon rêve, personne n’a le droit de me l’arracher. Peu importe ce qui m’arrive, je ne renoncerai pas. » Ella est aujourd’hui enfermée dans le centre de détention de Tariq al-Sikka, à Tripoli, géré par le Département de lutte contre la migration illégale.

Autour d’elle, dans un coin de la pièce, trois femmes se sont serrées sur les blocs de mousse qui servent de matelas, et jettent des regards obliques en direction de l’encadrement de la porte : le gardien y fume sa cigarette. Cette prison « modèle » est la seule que le gouvernement libyen laisse les journalistes visiter. On y sert deux repas par jour et les demandeuses d’asile ont le droit de posséder un téléphone portable.

« Le centre est dur, on devient folles à force de patienter, mais on est tellement en danger dans les villes libyennes que c’est préférable d’être dedans plutôt que dehors. On a la sécurité. Même si on risque autre chose ici… » Quoi exactement ? Coup de menton vers la silhouette masculine de la porte, ses amies lui ordonnent de se taire. « Vous allez partir d’ici dans une heure, mais nous, on va rester là pendant des mois, on doit se protéger », se fâche Beydaan (1), une jeune Somalienne enfermée depuis cinq mois ici, mais coincée depuis trois ans en Libye. Sa voisine Sanah (1) est soudanaise, c’est l’une des plus anciennes du centre : elle est arrivée en mai 2018 et a passé plusieurs entretiens avec des fonctionnaires du HCR. Depuis, elle attend une hypothétique place dans un pays d’accueil. « Au mois de mars, quatre femmes, mères de famille, ont été envoyées au Niger, répète-t-elle. Il paraît qu’après elles sont arrivées en Europe. »

Mariam (1) l’Ethiopienne regarde avec des yeux fixes mais ne parle pas. Les autres racontent pour elle. Son mari a été exécuté par un passeur à Bani Walid, plaque tournante du trafic d’êtres humains en Libye. La torture, les viols y sont systématiques. Elle a passé plus d’un an dans un centre de détention « officiel » - la plupart sont en réalité gérés par des milices - à Khoms, avant d’être transférée à Tariq al-Sikka.

« Le HCR s’oppose à la privation de liberté, les migrants ne devraient pas être enfermés, c’est notre position de principe, rappelle Paula Barrachina, porte-parole du HCR à Tripoli. Mais on se rend quand même dans les centres pour détecter les personnes les plus vulnérables et prodiguer des soins. C’est un dilemme permanent : faire de l’humanitaire sans participer à la pérennisation de ces lieux. »
Places allouées au compte-gouttes

Le HCR coadministre - avec le ministère libyen de l’Intérieur - à Tripoli son propre « centre de rassemblement et de départ », un site de transit où patientent les migrants « validés » pour obtenir l’asile en Occident. Mais les places dans les pays d’accueil étant allouées au compte-gouttes, le lieu est débordé. Quelque 1 500 personnes y vivent, dans un lieu aménagé pour 700. Surtout, les départs sont bien trop lents. Conséquence : les personnes vulnérables qui pourraient obtenir le statut de réfugiés croupissent dans des centres de détention insalubres, eux-mêmes saturés. Mais ils sont des dizaines de milliers d’autres à errer en Libye à la recherche d’une porte de sortie.

« J’ai perdu patience. On ne peut pas continuer comme ça, tonne Ghassan Salamé, l’envoyé spécial des Nations unies en Libye. Il faut fermer ces centres de détention. Il y a des sévices, des directeurs qui sont suspectés de faire du trafic, des entreprises qui bénéficient de contrats de fournitures [de nourriture et entretien]… » Trois prisons du Département de lutte contre la migration illégale ont officiellement cessé leur activité cet été, mais plusieurs ONG affirment que les migrants interceptés en mer continuent d’y être envoyés. « La communauté internationale et l’opinion publique européenne sont malheureusement obsédées par ces centres, alors qu’en réalité nous avons un problème bien plus sérieux, qui ne concerne pas que 5 000 migrants, mais 700 000 à 800 000 personnes illégalement entrées en Libye, explique le diplomate. C’est sur elles que nous voulons nous concentrer, sur le grand nombre d’expatriés illégaux, essayer de les aider de manière humanitaire, les soigner, les aider à accéder au marché du travail, les protéger. » Pour mettre son plan à exécution, Salamé a demandé un programme de 210 millions de dollars (188 millions d’euros) au Conseil de sécurité des Nations unies : « Je suis fâché car nous n’en avons obtenu qu’un peu moins de 40 millions. Si nous devons faire ce pas supplémentaire, il faut vraiment que les pays qui le peuvent mettent la main à la poche. »
« Un mois et demi pour traverser le désert »

L’errance a fini par déposer Souleymane, 44 ans, sous le toit en tôle d’un hangar d’une administration à l’abandon, dans un quartier excentré de Tripoli. A sa suite, onze familles éparses, venues comme lui des monts Nouba, région en guerre du sud du Soudan. Allongé sur une natte en plastique, ses longues jambes repliées, le chef de la colonie décrit : « Nous sommes arrivés en Libye il y a un an. Nous habitions une maison dans la banlieue Sud de Tripoli dans une zone proche de la ligne de front. On entendait les tirs qui se rapprochaient, on est partis à pied. Après cinq jours à dormir sur la route, devant le HCR, un Libyen nous a trouvé cet abri. »

Les autres hommes du campement se sont rassemblés en silence pour écouter la voix grave de l’ancien chauffeur de camion. « Je voyage avec ma femme et mes sept enfants, entre 1 an et demi et 16 ans. Je suis passé par le Tchad. Nous avons mis un mois et trois jours à traverser le désert, à cause des pannes. Le petit qui est là, à 5 ans, il marchait dix heures par jour. Nous étions vingt dans un camion de transport de bétail. A Sebha, j’ai été battu et torturé. Je suis arrivé au HCR à Tripoli le 28 février. Dix jours plus tard, j’étais enregistré. »

A l’évocation de la chute du régime d’Omar el-Béchir, dans son pays, Souleymane sourit. « Au Soudan, le changement va prendre beaucoup de temps. Dans mon village, il n’y aura pas d’eau et d’école avant au moins quinze ans : mes enfants ne peuvent pas attendre. » Souleymane joue avec la cheville du garçon qui s’est installé contre lui. « Si j’avais assez d’argent, je pai erais la traversée à mon fils. Pour ma famille, cela coûte 3 500 euros de prendre la mer, environ 500 euros par personne, les bébés ne paient pas. Je sais qu’il y a une chance sur deux de mourir. »

Il se redresse, calmement, insiste. « Je vois que vous ne comprenez pas. Pour des gens qui ont quitté une vie vraiment horrible, qui ont traversé le désert, le reste est dérisoire, ça n’a pas d’importance. » Faute d’argent, comme 45 000 autres demandeurs d’asile enregistrés par le HCR, il attend le miracle onusien d’une place d’accueil pour sa famille en Occident. « On dit qu’une famille de Soudanais est déjà partie pour la Norvège, après un an et demi d’attente. C’est bien, la Norvège ? »

(1) Les prénoms ont été modifiés.

▻https://www.liberation.fr/planete/2019/10/31/migrants-en-libye-je-sais-qu-il-y-a-une-chance-sur-deux-de-mourir_1760873

v. aussi ce fil de discussion sur comment les migrants sont utilisés comme «#chair_à_canon» dans le cadre des conflits qui sévissent la Libye:

Carne da cannone. In Libia i profughi dei campi sono arruolati a forza e mandati a combattere
►https://seenthis.net/messages/773233

Refugees being ’starved out’ of UN facility in Tripoli

Aid worker claims refugees are being denied food to motivate them to leave.

The UN has been accused of trying to starve out refugees and asylum seekers who are sheltering for safety inside a centre run by the UN refugee agency in the Libyan capital of Tripoli.

One group of about 400 people, who came to the Tripoli gathering and departure facility in October from Abu Salim detention centre in the south of the country, have apparently been without food for weeks.

Among them are 100 minors, according to a recent assessment by the International Organization for Migration. They are “currently starving” apart from some food that other refugees manage to sneak out of another part of the centre, the IOM assessment said. They last received food assistance a “couple of weeks ago”.

Internal documents seen by the Guardian show that the UNHCR is also planning to withdraw food from 600 other refugees and migrants in the centre – who include survivors of bombings, torture, forced labour and other human rights abuses. The majority have already tried to reach Europe by crossing the Mediterranean, but were returned to Libya by the EU-backed Libyan coastguard.

In a document circulated among UN staff on Tuesday, and seen by the Guardian, the agency said it would “phase out” food catering from 31 December. The document said the information should not be made public before mid-December, when 230 more refugees have been evacuated to other countries, in order to prevent disruption. After that, the facility will no longer be used as a transit centre, the document said, until the remaining refugees and migrants “vacate voluntarily”.

In the document, the UNHCR said that it would continue to finance cleaning in the centre after the withdrawal of food, partly to “prevent the reputational risk of having deficient/broken toilets and showers”. It also said a healthcare clinic on the site would continue to operate.

An aid worker with knowledge of the situation, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “They are starving the population inside the [facility]. They’re just trying to starve them to motivate them to leave. It’s deliberately withholding aid to put people under pressure.”

The group who will be affected by the next food withdrawal include 400 survivors of the 3 July Tajoura detention centre bombing, in which at least 53 refugees and migrants were killed after an airstrike hit the hall in which they were being held. Hundreds of survivors remained on the site of the strike for a week afterwards, staging a hunger strike in protest at the lack of help.

They eventually walked dozens of miles to the gathering and departure facility, where they were let in but told their cases for evacuation wouldn’t be evaluated until they agreed to leave the centre.

One Tajoura survivor told the Guardian this week that if they are forced to leave and fend for themselves in Tripoli “it will be a very dangerous scenario”. Refugees are frightened of forced recruitment by militias, being caught up in the ongoing civil war, or being kidnapped anew by traffickers. Others who have taken a UNHCR offer of money, in return for living alone in Tripoli, say the payments are not enough and they remain in danger. One Eritrean man recently released from Triq al Sikka detention centre was shot last week by men in police uniforms who, he said, were trying to rob him.

“Still now they didn’t give food. I think it is [on] purpose?” an Eritrean refugee in the facility messaged the Guardian this week through WhatsApp. “Everyone is suffering and stressed and we have all decided to stay here until they use force, because being returned to a detention centre means again facing trafficking, torture and abuse.”

The man said he spent more than a year in Abu Salim detention centre, which was repeatedly caught on the frontlines of Tripoli’s ongoing conflict. “[We have] no option until UNHCR gives us a positive response. Even if they leave we will stay here. We have no option, we will not go anywhere. There are no safe places in Libya at this time.”

An 11 November email sent by the Guardian to UNHCR spokespeople, which asked whether denying food to former Abu Salim detainees in the facility was a “deliberate policy on UNHCR’s part”, went unanswered, as did further requests for comment.

The internal UN document suggest that, after the agency stops using the facility as a transit centre, the property could continue to operate as an “open centre” for refugees and migrants previously held in detention centres, though there are other “possible scenarios”. These include that Libya’s department for combating illegal migration (DCIM) “moves in and forcibly removes all the migrants/asylum-seekers … [to] detention centres”, or that it turns the facility into a detention centre run by its own guards.

The DCIM, which is under the interior ministry of the UN-backed Tripoli Government of National Accord, ostensibly runs a network of migrant detention centres in Libya, though in reality most are run by militias. A litany of human rights abuses, including rape and sexual abuse, labour exploitation and a denial of medical care have been reported.

The UN-run facility opened in December last year to much fanfare. “The opening of this centre, in very difficult circumstances, has the potential to save lives,” said the UN high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi. “It offers immediate protection and safety for vulnerable refugees in need of urgent evacuation, and is an alternative to detention for hundreds of refugees currently trapped in Libya.”

▻https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/nov/28/refugees-being-starved-out-of-un-facility-in-tripoli?CMP=share_btn_tw

Au centre du HCR à Tripoli, les migrants d’Abu Salim accusent l’ONU de ne pas les nourrir

Les migrants actuellement réfugiés dans une partie du centre du HCR à Tripoli, le GDF, accusent l’agence onusienne de les « affamer ». Ces migrants n’ont pas accès aux distributions de nourriture et n’ont plus le droit d’en apporter de l’extérieur. Le HCR, de son côté, se défausse de toute responsabilité et assure que ce sont les autorités libyennes qui sont en charge de l’intendance du lieu.

« L’ONU nous affame pour qu’on quitte le centre ». Massaoud* ne décolère pas. Ce migrant fait partie des 400 personnes qui se sont réfugiées dans un hangar juste à côté du centre de rassemblement et de départ (GDF), géré par les autorités libyennes en coordination avec le Haut-commissariat des Nations unies aux réfugiés (HCR). Il avait rejoint le centre après avoir été libéré de la prison d’Abu Salim le 29 octobre.

Selon lui, depuis leur arrivée, le GDF ne distribue pas de nourriture à ces migrants et depuis quelques jours, leur interdit même d’en faire entrer dans l’enceinte du hangar. En tout, 400 personnes seraient concernées par ces restrictions de vivres - sur les 1 200 hébergées au sein du centre du HCR à Tripoli.

Ahmed*, un autre migrant du GDF, affirme à InfoMigrants que les autorités font en effet la différence entre deux catégories : les 400 migrants de la prison Abu Salim – arrivés en octobre - et les autres.
Quelques migrants autorisés à apporter de la nourriture

« Avant on pouvait faire entrer de la nourriture. Mais depuis ce week-end, la police refuse sans justification », soupire Massaoud qui raconte avoir été battu par les gardes libyens et envoyé dans la prison de Tarek al-Sika plusieurs jours parce qu’il avait justement apporté de la nourriture dans le hangar. Il a ensuite été renvoyé au GDF.

Contacté par la rédaction, le HCR se dégage de toute responsabilité. Selon l’agence onusienne, ce sont les autorités libyennes qui sont en charge de l’intendance du lieu. Et toujours selon le HCR, les Libyens n’autoriseraient, en effet, les entrées de vivres dans le hangar qu’au compte-goutte.

« La DCIM, l’organe du ministère de l’Intérieur chargé de surveiller le périmètre de l’installation [du hangar], n’autorise actuellement que peu de représentants des demandeurs d’asile à acheter de la nourriture et des boissons pour le reste du groupe », explique Tarik Argaz, porte-parole du HCR en Libye, dans un mail envoyé à InfoMigrants.
Les migrants priés de quitter le centre

Les migrants d’Abu Salim accusent également le HCR de les pousser dehors en les affamant. Mais les exilés affirment n’avoir nulle part où aller et redoutent les combats qui font rage dans la capitale libyenne. De son côté, le GDF se justifie en précisant que le centre est surpeuplé et qu’il est destiné à un « public vulnérable ».

« Ils nous ont dit que la seule solution pour nous était de sortir du centre et de nous intégrer dans la société libyenne », explique encore Massaoud qui déplore que l’ONU ne traite pas son dossier de réinstallation. « Mais je vais faire quoi dehors ? C’est trop dangereux », s’inquiète le jeune homme.

L’ONU propose un accompagnement à ceux qui accepteraient de quitter le GDF volontairement. « Le HCR leur offre une assistance pour les aider à s’établir dans les zones urbaines, y compris une assistance financière d’urgence pour une période de deux mois, des articles de première nécessité notamment des matelas, des couvertures, des vêtements, des kits d’hygiène, ainsi que l’accès à des soins médicaux », déclare encore Tarik Argaz.

Depuis les premières arrivées spontanées début juillet, seulement 40 migrants ont accepté de quitter le GDF et de bénéficier de l’aide du HCR.

▻https://www.infomigrants.net/fr/post/21185/au-centre-du-hcr-a-tripoli-les-migrants-d-abu-salim-accusent-l-onu-de-
#faim

UN Libya migrant center plagued with crowding, TB, food cuts

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The United Nations center in Libya was opened as an “alternative to detention,” a last, safe stop for migrants before they were resettled in other countries. Now, just a year later, it looks increasingly like the notorious Libyan lockups it was supposed to replace.

The facility is jam-packed with nearly 1,200 migrants — about twice the number it was built for — including hundreds who fled from abuse at other detention centers in hopes of sanctuary. Dozens of patients with tuberculosis languish in a room crammed with mattresses. Sewage is overflowing, and armed guards from a local militia have effectively turned the center into a prison.

Unable to cope, the U.N. last week offered migrants the equivalent of $112 each to leave, and warned that food, already down to emergency rations, would be cut off on Jan. 1 for unapproved arrivals.

“This is very dangerous because among us there are people who are malnourished,” said a 27-year-old Sudanese man who arrived at the center in July. “If they cut food, they won’t be able to stand it.”

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This story is part of an occasional series, “Outsourcing Migrants,” produced with the support of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

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He, like the rest of the nearly dozen migrants who spoke with The Associated Press from the compound, asked to withhold his name because of fears of retaliation. Libyan security officials and U.N. and other aid workers confirmed that the U.N. had lost control of the facility.

The conditions at the center underscore the predicament the U.N. finds itself in over migration. The UN has criticized the detention of migrants in Libya - a position it reiterated last month when Italy suggested the U.N. High Commissioner on Refugees run more centers as a solution to rampant abuse in Libyan prisons.

“UNHCR does not and will not run places of detention in Libya,” its spokesman, Charlie Yaxley, told the AP.

Yet that is effectively what the Tripoli facility has become.

“It’s not the best possible scenario,” acknowledged Jean-Paul Cavalieri, the head of the UNHCR in Libya.

Cavalieri lamented the chaos that has accelerated as migrants, acting on their own, escape other detention centers with torture, rape, slave labor and trafficking to what they hope will be UN protection. He said the UNHCR is glad they are free of detention but cannot handle them at its center, known as the Gathering and Departure Facility, where people supposed to be there for days now spend months, stuck in a bureaucratic limbo.

“What we are trying to do now is to turn the loss of the GDF as a transit center into an opportunity,” Cavalieri said, but he struggled to articulate how. Cavalieri also said there are fears of possible abuse at the U.N. center, including of young girls. UN staff now spend just four hours a day in the compound, migrants and Libyan officials say.

In a statement after the AP story ran, Vincent Cochetel, UNHCR Special Envoy for the Central Mediterranean, said no one was being forced to leave the center, but “the situation is very tense.” UNHCR said 20 people agreed to leave Friday.

“We need the GDF (this transit centre) to function again as it was designed for the most vulnerable and most at risk refugees in detention, pending their evacuation out of Libya,” Cochetel added.

The dilemma has grown out of Europe’s outsourcing of migration to Libya. Europe has poured nearly 425 million euros into Libya since 2016 to keep migrants from reaching its shores — money that goes mostly to the U.N. and other aid agencies to improve conditions for migrants and Libyans displaced by the country’s civil war. The U.N. runs a vast operation within Libya, registering 40,000 refugees and asylum seekers, with about 6,000 inside the detention system and the rest ensconced in communities in Tripoli and beyond.

But dependence upon European funding and its increasingly restrictive migration policies have left the U.N. in the uncomfortable position of being the arbiter of horror stories. It is the U.N.’s job to decide who has suffered enough to get a coveted resettlement slot in another country.

Many end up waiting months, sometimes years — often in other detention centers — to find out their fate. The U.N. is now threatening to suspend asylum cases altogether for unauthorized migrants who refuse to leave its GDF facility.

The facility, like the UNHCR mission in Libya itself, was funded largely by European countries. The idea was that it would be operated by UNHCR, with cooperation from the Libyan government.

The situation was less than ideal from the outset, Cavalieri acknowledged. Delayed by months of negotiations, UNHCR ultimately agreed to a series of conditions from the Libyan government: armed guards within the compound and Interior Ministry militia at the gates, no freedom of movement for the refugees and asylum seekers, and a single Libyan “partner” for the various lucrative contracts inside.

Those conditions were never publicly spelled out. When the first group of refugees was resettled from the facility in December 2018, the UNHCR described it as “the first centre of its kind in Libya,” and said it was “intended to bring vulnerable refugees to a safe environment” while solutions were found. More than 2,300 people have passed through in the past year.

The influx of unauthorized migrants began in July, when an airstrike hit a detention center in Tripoli, killing 54. Survivors walked through the city to the U.N. center and, once the guards admitted them, they refused to leave.

The latest group to arrive, in late October, included more than three dozen tuberculosis patients among several hundred who walked out of Abu Salim detention center, where they had been imprisoned for the last year without regular meals. Those whose families could spare money paid guards to buy them food; others went hungry.

U.N. officials at the center told the new group, mostly men from sub-Saharan Africa, that there would be no resettlement unless they left — either for another detention center or for the streets of Tripoli. They were given bread and water, and U.N. officials said they had no control over what happened next, according to two Eritrean asylum-seekers. That would be up to the commander of the armed guards at the gates.

The Eritreans, whose government is considered among the world’s most repressive, refused to leave. They also refused to discuss returning home when an Eritrean diplomat unexpectedly showed up at the invitation of a U.N. migration official, according to the asylum-seekers. His arrival forced them to face a representative of the very government from which they are seeking asylum.

The tuberculosis patients, meanwhile, are being treated on-site in a crowded room of their own. They receive medicine from the U.N. But the pills are supposed to be taken on a full stomach, and instead the patients are making do with the same biscuits, bread and water they all have subsisted on since their arrival.

Most of the migrants at the U.N. center fled from worse and are torn between relief and fury — relief to have escaped Libya’s prisons alive, and fury at the impotence of the UN, which they say lacks either the will or the power to make any meaningful decisions about their future, inside the center or out.

“I hate these organizations. They don’t have any humanity,” said a 15-year-old Eritrean who survived the airstrike, fled to the U.N. facility, and is waiting to learn what will happen to him. His group is not allowed outside because they speak no Arabic and are targets for kidnapping. There are no resettlement slots available other than Libya.

“What shall we do?” he asked. “We have no options but to stay. Is there any news?”

The last thing most of those the AP interviewed want is to be turned out into Libyan cities, which are dangerous for everyone — Libyans and foreigners alike — but especially for migrants. They are considered ripe for kidnappings for ransom and for arrest by Libyan authorities who return them to the same detention centers they fled. So migrants inside see few alternatives to their new prison — it’s better than the old one or the streets.

“You are not allowed out because it’s like you are at the very last stage. You are almost outside Libya. It’s for your own safety,” said Khaled al-Marghani of LibAid, the Libyan group that operates the facility. “If you leave, I won’t be able to let you back in.”

Hardly anyone seemed eager to accept the latest offer, which the U.N. said came with guarantees from the Libyan government that they would not be re-arrested on the streets. But it is militias that run the streets, and not the central government.

One Sudanese migrant did agree to leave, seeing little alternative. He said he’ll now try to cross to Europe by sea before he is swept up in a Libyan raid to detain migrants.

“Instead of living in Tripoli and getting tortured, the sea is less torturous,” he said.

At a hearing late last month before members of the European Parliament, Annabelle Roig Granjon, a senior officer with UNHCR, fielded questions about how European funds were helping migrants inside Libya, especially in the center that opened a year ago to so much hope.

“The nature of the center, which was meant to be a transit center, is changing and this is a challenge right now,” she said. “What was meant to be an alternative to detention is turning into something else.”

►https://apnews.com/7e72689f44e45dd17aa0a3ee53ed3c03

UN tells migrants to leave Libya transit centre as $6m project flounders

‘You will not be considered for evacuation or resettlement if you stay.’

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The UN says it is unable to help most residents of an overcrowded refugee centre in the Libyan capital it once touted as a safe haven. To encourage people to go, it is offering money and aid, even telling them they won’t be able to register as refugees to leave the war-torn country if they remain.

Originally intended as a temporary residence for a small fraction of refugees – just those who had already been vetted by the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) and were scheduled for evacuation or permanent residency in other countries — the Gathering and Departure Facility (GDF) now has some 1,150 residents, well over its stated capacity.

Most arrived over the last eight months of clashes in Tripoli, including 900 who UNHCR says entered “informally”; some even bribed their way in. As the fighting has intensified, numbers in the centre have risen and many of the people inside are hoping for, or demanding, a way out of the country – even though the UN says it can’t offer that to everyone.

A flyer UNHCR began distributing late November at the GDF – seen by The New Humanitarian – offers food, cash, primary healthcare, and medical referrals to those willing to leave.

“You will not be considered for evacuation or resettlement if you stay,” stresses the flyer – the latest in a series of attempts to encourage those who entered informally to leave. Aid, including cash, was also offered earlier. About 100 people have taken up the offer since late November, but others have also likely entered the facility.

A source within UNHCR Libya, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, criticised the effort to push people out, calling it tantamount to “blackmail” to promise them help if they go and threaten their ability to secure refugee status if they do not.

“Asylum seekers are asylum seekers and can’t be denied the right to seek asylum on the basis of their stay at the GDF,” they said, adding that the aid on offer had not included “any future consideration for their protection needs or safety” once they leave.

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The agency has defended its actions.

UNHCR’s Special Envoy for the Central Mediterranean Situation Vincent Cochetel pointed out that there are only two locations in Libya, both in the Tripoli area, where people can officially register their claim as a refugee with UNHCR, and the GDF is not one of them.

Cochetel said the agency can no longer provide for or protect the people inside, given that it has become overcrowded and dangerous.

“We believe the urban environment is safer for them, as long as they have a roof over their heads,” he said, adding that his agency provides various services in Tripoli, where the vast majority of migrants already live and rent accomodations.

UNHCR “is not in charge of the GDF”, and never was, according to a spokesperson, who said that the centre was under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Interior, which allows UNHCR and a local NGO, LibAid, to provide services there – like healthcare and food.

But it was the refugee agency that proposed the project, and a statement released after the GDF’s opening late last year said the facility is “managed by the Libyan Ministry of Interior, UNHCR, and UNHCR’s partner LibAid.”

According to internal UN documents and several sources, the $6 million facility – paid for by international donors – has now become unsanitary and is in disarray.

Many of those inside are unsure whether to stay or go.

“UNHCR is putting a lot of pressure on us to leave the GDF,” one young Yemeni man who said he was in the centre told TNH by WhatsApp. “Should I leave the GDF no matter how dangerous the situation is for us?”
How it got this bad

There are more than 600,000 migrants in Libya, including 46,000 registered refugees and asylum seekers. Some came to work, but others aim to make their way to Europe, through a country that has become notorious for the rape, kidnap, and extortion of migrants, and for squalid detention centres run by militias and gangs.

Originally intended as a waystation for those on their way out of Libya, a UNHCR press release issued last December said the then-new GDF was a place to “bring vulnerable refugees to a safe environment while solutions including refugee resettlement, family reunification, evacuation to emergency facilities in other countries, return to a country of previous asylum, and voluntary repatriation are sought for them”.

The GDF is no longer the gleaming facility shown off in promotional videos and photos when it opened a year ago, when families posed with their packed bags, and kids smiled in a playground.

An internal UNHCR report from early November, obtained by TNH, paints a starkly different picture, as do the numerous accounts of those living inside the centre.

“Sewage water flooded days ago,” it says, adding, “the toilets in all the housing are extremely dirty… [and people] are complaining of the smell”. According to the report, some people had tuberculosis, scabies had begun to spread, and “food is stored in bad conditions”.

Some of this may be due to overcrowding, although the GDF’s capacity is not entirely clear: last December UNHCR said the facility could hold 1,000 people, but that number was adjusted in subsequent statements – in September, it was 700, and in October 600.

Numbers at the centre began to increase not long after it opened, although roughly in line with capacity until fighting broke out in Tripoli — with the internationally recognised government in Tripoli and the militias that back it on one side, and eastern forces led by general Khalifa Haftar on the other.

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Thousands of people found themselves trapped in detention centres on front lines, and UNHCR began evacuations to the GDF, including some of the “most vulnerable people” who had survived a July double airstrike on a centre called Tajoura that killed 52 people.

Other people were evacuated to the GDF from other centres or flocked there themselves, from Tajoura or elsewhere – drawn by the decent living conditions (it reportedly came to be known as “hotel GDF”) or because they saw it as a first step out of the country.

UNHCR tried to reserve GDF places for people it had previously registered as having a claim to refugee status – but distinguishing between refugees and other migrants has been at the heart of why the centre ran into trouble.

In late October, hundreds of residents from a separate Tripoli detention centre called Abu Salim managed to leave, and they too headed for the GDF, even though UNHCR described the facility as “severely overcrowded” at the time.

The guards who surround the GDF eventually let them in. Several sources, including UNHCR’s Cochetel told TNH that the guards — provided by the Tripoli government’s Department for Combating Illegal Migration (DCIM) — took bribes to do so.
Unrealistic hopes?

Libya is not a party to the international refugee conventions and does not accept refugees itself.

That leaves those who have not made it out of Libya and to Europe with limited options.

The UN’s migration agency, IOM, coordinates “voluntary humanitarian return” for migrants who want to go back to their home countries: nearly 9,000 people have opted for this option in 2019.

UNHCR, meanwhile, registers asylum seekers and refugees in Libya for possible moves to other countries, including permanent resettlement (774 people this year), or evacuation to countries who have agreed to take them, but not as citizens, like Rwanda (1,410 in 2019).

Until recently, UNHCR said the Libyan authorities had only allowed it to register people from nine countries for refugee status, but Cochetel said this had now changed and the agency could take the details of people of any nationality.

In addition to cash and healthcare, UNHCR says people who leave the GDF are eligible for “documentation,” and a spokesperson said “there is a commitment from the authorities not to detain asylum seekers holding UNHCR documents.”

But, even after registration, these papers do not confer the right to work, nor do they guarantee safety: Libya is a divided country with multiple authorities, none of which are party to refugee conventions and officially recognise UNHCR documents.

Kasper Engborg, deputy head of office for OCHA Libya, the UN body that coordinates emergency response, explained how those flocking to the GDF often have expectations that go beyond just shelter.

“They all went there in the hopes that this could be the first gateway to Europe, and they have obviously left [their home countries] for a reason. We are not in a place where we can judge what reasons people left for.

“They believe as soon as they are in the GDF they are halfway on their way to Europe,” Engborg said, pointing out that not many countries have so far stepped up to offer spots to people who claim asylum in Libya, many of whom come from sub-Saharan Africa.

A UNHCR report says 6,169 resettlement places have been found since September 2017, and over 4,000 of those have already been allocated.

“At the end of the day it is the countries who decide who they want to take and how many people,” Engborg said.

UNHCR’s Cochetel put it differently: “[Many] people believe UNHCR is a travel agency and we should resettle them all.” With limited spots available, he asked, “how do we do that?”

While much of the blame for the current chaos in the GDF appears to have been placed on the new influx of people and a lack of resettlement spaces, others say the current situation points to problems that were there from the start.

The GDF is across the street from the headquarters of the DCIM and a detention centre it runs, allowing people to slip between the facilities.

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That means, according to multiple sources who work in Libya’s aid operation, all of whom requested anonymity, that physical and administrative control has largely been dictated by local authorities, and occasionally the militias that back them and provide armed security.

UNHCR’s Cochetel said the agency had limited choice in who it would work with in the GDF, and which firms to contract for services.

It’s “costing us enormous amounts of money; we cannot choose the partners”, he said. “We pay for food four times the level we should be paying.”

Two sources, both of whom requested anonymity, said part of the problem at the GDF stems from the fact that UNHCR never had a clear-cut agreement with the Libyan authorities – who are themselves split – on how the agency and its local partner, Libaid, would be able to operate inside the facility.
What’s next?

As controversy for the centre continues to swirl, it’s not clear what’s next for the GDF, and more importantly, for the people inside.

A UNHCR spokesperson said a catering contract that provides hot meals to the people who entered the centre without vetting will end at the start of next year, but the UN denies it will let GDF residents go hungry. It says, too, that it will not shut off the electricity or stop providing aid altogether.

“People are not going to be left in a starving situation,” said Engborg. “[If people do not leave] then other solutions will be found.”

But those solutions – one floated by a UNHCR spokesperson includes the possibility that the facility could “be run as an open centre, administered by the Libyan government, where different UN agencies and partners could provide various services” – would have to be approved by the authorities in Tripoli.

If conditions don’t improve, the UN could pull out altogether.

The spokesperson said that “for the UN to remain engaged, the centre would need to be a purely civilian facility where agencies and residents would have unhindered access and freedom of movement”.

One DCIM source, who requested anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media, said Tripoli authorities were unlikely to allow an unguarded centre on their doorstep.

So far, there is little sign of others stepping in. Several international groups involved in providing aid to migrants and refugees declined to speak on the record about the GDF or say if they would pitch in to help those currently there.

In the meantime, emotions are running high inside the centre, as desperate texts sent out to various media outlets lay bare.

“It is a very confusing situation, and it is also a very difficult situation, because you are dealing with people’s hopes and emotions,” Engborg said. “Therefore, whatever rational decision that we often need to take, we are up against people’s legitimate hopes and emotions.”

Leaving the GDF may mean a registration appointment, cash, and other help. But for some, staying may keep some semblance of safety and the dream of a new life elsewhere alive.

Only around 100 residents have taken the UN up on its offer since it began distributing flyers, according to an aid worker in the centre. But the UN’s attempts to coax people out of the GDF and dissuade others from entering have largely proven unsuccessful. And, with no agreed resolution, it might get worse still.

While “some people are leaving… new people are coming in”, said Cochetel. “They bribe, pay their way in… I have the feeling that more people will go there, thinking they will get better assistance at the GDF. [But] it’s not true.”

▻https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news/2019/12/10/UN-migrants-Libya-transit-centre-project

Non, en Libye les migrants en centres de détention n’ont pas plus de chance d’être réinstallés en Europe

En Libye, des trafiquants font payer à des migrants leur entrée en centre de détention en leur faisant croire qu’ils seront plus rapidement évacués et réinstallés en Europe. C’est totalement faux mais plusieurs centaines de personnes, désespérées, ont déjà été victimes de cette arnaque.

Depuis l’été dernier, il arrive que des migrants paient pour être enfermés dans des centres de détention en Libye. Selon le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies pour les Réfugiés (UNHCR), informé de cette situation par des victimes de cette arnaque, les trafiquants demandent entre 200 et 500 dollars à certains migrants pour une place en centre de détention. Pour les convaincre de payer, ils leur promettent un accès facilité aux équipes du HCR et une réinstallation plus rapide en Europe.

« Les trafiquants leur font la promesse qu’une fois qu’ils auront payé, le HCR sera pour eux comme une agence de voyage vers l’Europe. Parfois, ils leur disent même que le HCR a déjà planifié un rendez-vous avec eux », s’indigne Vincent Cochetel, représentant du HCR pour la Méditerranée centrale, contacté par InfoMigrants.

Entre 200 et 500 dollars pour une place dans des centres dont les conditions de vie inhumaines (manque de nourriture et d’eau, absence d’hygiène et de soins, traitement dégradants…) sont régulièrement dénoncées par les ONG ? Pour Vincent Cochetel, le succès de cette nouvelle pratique des trafiquants est le signe d’une détérioration des conditions de vie des migrants en Libye. Si les personnes croient aux promesses des trafiquants et finissent par payer pour aller dans ces centres, c’est qu’elles se sentent trop en danger en dehors.

« Les gens sont désespérés »

« Beaucoup de quartiers de Tripoli sont touchés par des frappes aériennes et des coupures d’électricité et d’eau. Les gens se trouvent dans un cul de sac, ils n’ont pas assez d’argent pour traverser ou ne veulent pas prendre de risques car, avec l’hiver, l’eau est froide et la mer plus agitée. Ils sont désespérés et pensent qu’ils seront plus visibles dans ces centres », explique Vincent Cochetel.

Certaines nationalités craignent également l’enlèvement. En Libye, selon le représentant du HCR, moins on parle l’arabe, plus on a une couleur de peau foncée et plus les risques d’être enlevé sont élevés.

Pour alimenter cette nouvelle branche de leur économie, les trafiquants cibleraient en particulier les personnes membres des communautés érythréenne et soudanaise. Une rumeur persistante –bien que fausse – affirme que ces personnes ont plus de moyens financiers grâce à leurs diasporas.

Le sentiment d’insécurité des migrants risque d’être renforcé par la fermeture, fin 2019, du centre de rassemblement et de départ (Gathering and Departure Facility, GDF) du HCR, à Tripoli. Pour compenser la fermeture de ce centre surpeuplé, L’agence onusienne assure qu’elle va renforcer ses programmes d’assistance dans des zones urbaines. Mais depuis avril 2019, le sud de la capital libyenne est en proie à un conflit armé.

En juillet 2019, le centre de détention de Tajourah, près de Tripoli, a été la cible d’une frappe aérienne qui a fait plus de 44 morts et 130 blessés.
« Les gens n’ont pas besoin d’être en détention pour être enregistrés »

Pour les migrants qui ont accepté de payer pour se retrouver en centres de détention, les voies de recours sont inexistantes. Surtout dans un pays où « le système de détention officiel fait partie du ’business model’ des trafiquants », estime Vincent Cochetel,

Le HCR lui-même reconnaît qu’il ne peut pas faire « grand-chose de plus que de prévenir les gens qu’ils n’ont pas besoin d’être en détention pour être enregistré ». « On essaye de faire passer le message dans différentes communautés. Mais parfois, ce qu’on dit a moins d’impact que le discours des trafiquants », déplore le représentant du HCR.

Face à ce nouveau danger pour les migrants, la solution est de renforcer l’information dans les langues que les gens parlent. « Nous devons aussi bien équilibrer nos efforts de réinstallation pour qu’il n’y ait pas la perception qu’on réinstalle plus les gens en détention que ceux en milieu urbain », ajoute Vincent Cochetel.

Depuis novembre 2017, le HCR a mis en place un système d’évacuation des réfugiés susceptibles d’obtenir une protection internationale dans un pays européen. Pour cela, les personnes doivent avoir été enregistrées en tant que réfugiés par l’agence onusienne. Ces enregistrements se font depuis les centres de détention officiels gérés par le département de lutte contre la migration illégale (DCIM, selon l’acronyme anglais) ou depuis le centre du HCR, à Tripoli.

Les migrants évacués sont alors envoyés vers le Niger ou le Rwanda, dans l’attente de leur réinstallation dans un pays d’accueil. Mais les États européens et le Canada n’acceptent les réfugiés qu’au compte-goutte. Sur les quelques 50 000 réfugiés enregistrés par le HCR en Libye, seuls quelque 4 600 ont été réinstallés depuis novembre 2017.

Les migrants qui parviennent à quitter les centres de détention et tentent de rejoindre l’Europe par la mer sont quasi-systématiquement interceptés par les garde-côtes libyens et renvoyés en détention.

▻https://www.infomigrants.net/fr/post/21425/non-en-libye-les-migrants-en-centres-de-detention-n-ont-pas-plus-de-ch

Fin janvier 2020:
UN evacuates endangered refugee centre in Libya’s Tripoli
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/823675

« A Tripoli, la vulnérabilité des demandeurs d’asile est immense »

Selon la porte-parole du Haut-Commissariat pour les réfugiés, le nombre de candidats à la traversée vers l’Europe interceptés par les gardes-côtes libyens a « augmenté de plus de 120 % » en janvier.

Caroline Gluck est porte-parole du Haut-Commissariat pour les réfugiés (HCR) en Libye. Elle alerte sur la détérioration de la situation des migrants en Libye et déplore le manque de solution d’évacuation pour les plus vulnérables. Depuis l’assaut déclenché en avril 2019 par le maréchal dissident Khalifa Haftar contre le gouvernement d’accord national (GAN) de Tripoli, la sécurité s’est considérablement dégradée dans la capitale. Le HCR a décidé de fermer son centre de rassemblement et de départ de Tripoli.
Quelle est aujourd’hui la situation des migrants en Libye ?

Environ 640 000 migrants se trouvent actuellement en Libye et le pays continue d’être une terre d’accueil pour des travailleurs étrangers. Il faut ajouter à ces personnes 47 000 réfugiés et demandeurs d’asile, sachant que le HCR enregistre chaque mois un millier de demandeurs d’asile supplémentaires, qui ont pour beaucoup été libérés de centres de détention ou été victimes de trafiquants. Ils ont urgemment besoin d’aide. Ils sont Syriens, Soudanais, Erythréens, Palestiniens… Leur vulnérabilité est immense, en particulier pour ceux originaires d’Afrique.

La Libye n’est pas un pays sûr, ni une terre d’asile. Les réfugiés y sont considérés comme étant dans l’illégalité et peuvent à tout moment être arrêtés et détenus. Il leur est souvent difficile de trouver un logement, a fortiori depuis le regain de la guerre civile à partir d’avril 2019, qui a provoqué le déplacement de 150 000 Libyens à l’intérieur du pays. Migrants et nationaux se retrouvent en concurrence pour trouver des logements abordables.

De façon générale, le contexte sécuritaire a des conséquences considérables pour l’ensemble des agences internationales et des ONG. Plus du quart des effectifs libyens du HCR ont été déplacés à cause du conflit. Toutes nos activités sont ralenties. Notre présence est limitée aux villes de Tripoli, Benghazi et Misrata et nous ne pouvons pas apporter notre aide à tous ceux qui en ont besoin. En outre, les dysfonctionnements du système bancaire font que nous avons du mal à déployer notre programme de soutien pour les personnes vivant en milieu urbain. Quelque 5 000 foyers reçoivent jusqu’à présent cette assistance qui représente, pour une personne seule, 250 dollars [230 euros]. Ce n’est pas assez.
Un an à peine après son ouverture, le HCR a annoncé la fermeture de son centre de transit pour réfugiés à Tripoli. Pourquoi ?

Il y a encore 119 personnes au sein du centre de rassemblement et de départ (GDF) et nous aimerions le fermer la semaine prochaine. La suite qui sera donnée n’est pas encore claire. Ce centre devait être un lieu de transit pour des réfugiés particulièrement vulnérables avant leur évacuation de Libye et, éventuellement, leur réinstallation en Europe ou en Amérique du Nord.

Mais nous avons été dépassés par la réalité du terrain. En juillet, après le bombardement aérien du centre de détention de Tajoura [est de Tripoli], nous y avons accueilli de façon exceptionnelle 400 personnes. Les réfugiés ont cru qu’en entrant dans notre centre, ils pourraient quitter les pays. Fin octobre début novembre, 400 personnes du centre de détention d’Abu Salim [quartier de Tripoli], qui n’étaient pas prioritaires, sont venues au GDF. Les gardes de la DCIM [département libyen de lutte contre la migration illégale, qui relève du ministère de l’intérieur], qui surveillent le complexe dans lequel se trouve le GDF, les ont laissés faire. On a su que certains payaient pour pouvoir entrer. Les lieux sont devenus surpeuplés.

D’autres événements ont précipité notre décision de fermeture. En janvier, trois obus de mortier sont tombés près du GDF et des débris ont atterri près d’un entrepôt à l’intérieur du complexe. Au même moment, nous avons appris que la DCIM construisait un site militaire à proximité immédiate du GDF. Fin janvier, deux journées d’entraînement de forces armées y ont eu lieu. Le site a perdu sa vocation civile et les réfugiés devenaient une cible militaire. Nous ne pouvons plus y travailler.

Nous sommes conscients de nos échecs et de nos vulnérabilités. Nous recherchons un nouveau site pour que des réfugiés particulièrement vulnérables y transitent avant des vols d’évacuation. Mais nous avons aussi besoin que la communauté internationale offre plus de places de réinstallation. Seuls 2 400 réfugiés ont pu être évacués de Libye en 2019. Ce qui est vrai pour la Libye est vrai à l’échelle mondiale. Nous estimons qu’1,4 million de réfugiés en danger dans des pays de premier accueil ont urgemment besoin d’être évacués. En 2019, le HCR n’a pu en réinstaller que 63 000, soit 4,5 % des besoins mondiaux.
Le sujet est moins présent dans l’actualité, mais les traversées de la Méditerranée se poursuivent…

En janvier, les gardes-côtes libyens ont intercepté 1 040 personnes qui tentaient de traverser la Méditerranée pour rejoindre l’Europe. Il y a un an, ils en avaient intercepté 469. Cette augmentation de plus de 120 % est le fait de la guerre en Libye. Les gens sont désespérés. Des Libyens tentent aussi la traversée.

On observe par ailleurs un changement depuis peu : les gens interceptés en mer ne sont plus systématiquement ramenés dans des centres de détention. Nous comprenons qu’il y a actuellement onze centres de détentions officiels, placés sous la responsabilité du ministère de l’intérieur, contre seize il y a encore quelques semaines. Il y a d’autres centres de détention non officiels, mais le HCR n’y a pas accès.

Nous ne pouvons que spéculer sur les raisons des fermetures de certains centres officiels. Peut-être que les ressources du gouvernement sont employées sur d’autres fronts, peut-être que notre plaidoyer a eu un effet même si je pense qu’il est limité. La situation continue d’évoluer au jour le jour. Ce qui est certain, c’est que la Libye a besoin de paix. Nous espérons que les pourparlers progresseront mais, à ce stade, nous ne pouvons que constater le soutien militaire apporté par des pays étrangers malgré le cessez-le-feu et l’embargo sur les armes.

▻https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2020/02/14/a-tripoli-la-vulnerabilite-des-demandeurs-d-asile-est-immense_6029581_3212.h
#vulnérabilité

UNHCR in Libya Part 2 : Migrants in detention centres : ’Why does UNHCR want to keep us in prison ?’

In this, the second part of our four-part investigation into the UNHCR’s operation in Libya, we talk to those migrants actually involved in the registration and detainment process. They tell Euronews their stories.

Despite increased EU funding to the Libyan coastguard, and an Italian memorandum of understanding with the DCIM (the body responsible for running migrant detention centres) no effective provision has been made by the EU to implement migrants’ human rights and living conditions in Libya.

The migrant experience in the embattled North African nation is deteriorating. Many people in that position who spoke to Euronews have reported abuses after being thrown into detention centres with the hope of being registered by UNHCR. Testimonies include instances of torture, rape and extortion at the hands of local militias and when this leads to an attempt to cross the Mediterranean sea, reports also detail how they have been intercepted by the Libyan coastguards and automatically re-incarcerated into the detention centres.

“It has become an infinite, terrible circle from which there is no way out”, Julien Raickman, head of the MSF-France’s Libyan operation, told The Times.

UNHCR’s main mission in Libya is to register migrants and find a solution to get them out of the country. However, as Raickman adds, “the resettlement procedure is totally blocked”.

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Sur les centres de détention en Libye voir aussi :
https://seenthis.net/messages/678573

UNHCR in Libya Part 3: Former staffer blows whistle on favouritism and ’culture of impunity’

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Libya’s United Nations Refugee Agency has been branded “the worst in the region” by a former staff member who has alleged corruption, mismanagement and incompetence in its dealings with tens of thousands of vulnerable refugees and asylum seekers.

The former staff member, who spoke to Euronews on condition of anonymity, painted an image of an agency overstretched and out of its depth, with asylum seekers left homeless, deprived of medical care and in legal limbo in an increasingly violent and unstable Libya.

Migrants and refugees on the ground told Euronews that they had even bribed their way into Libya’s notorious detention centres in an effort to speed up their asylum claims. There they face exploitation at the hands of militia groups, which run the centres in all but name.

The former staff member described a chaotic infrastructure at UNHCR, where he worked for several years, with asylum seekers registered under incorrect nationalities and others forced to wait for months to hear the status of their applications.

Meanwhile, questions about UNHCR in Libya have stretched to procurement. An internal audit found that the agency had purchased laptop computers at inflated prices (eight laptops for just under $50,000) and used two travel agents to purchase almost $200,000 worth of flight tickets. The audit also notes that “no competitive bidding was conducted for the travel services” (sect. D of OIOS report 2019/007).
Medical care

Euronews has spoken to dozens of asylum seekers on the ground in Libya, including a man suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis. Asyas, 30, was discharged from the hospital by a UN medical partner, the International Medical Corps (IMC), and was now living in a private home in Tripoli.

“I’m just waiting to die,” he told us.

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A medical source in Tripoli said that the hospitalisation of migrants and refugees - especially those cases with tuberculosis - is expensive, and some public hospitals lack the equipment to correctly diagnose the cases.

As a result, NGOs have to find a balance between paying very high bills to private hospitals or discharging patients too early, the source concludes.

The IMC told Euronews it cannot comment on the case.

The feeling on the streets is one of abandonment by international institutions. Asylum seekers in urban areas believe that the UN agency will be there to help them find accommodation for example but the UNHCR are not obligated to do so.

In one case, a group of Sudanese refugees – including expectant mothers and newborn babies - have been living for several months in an abandoned warehouse in an area of Tripoli known as al-Riyadiya.

The group were since evicted from the warehouse and are now sleeping in front the UNHCR community day centre, waiting to be moved to safer housing.

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Commenting on the experiences Euronews uncovered, a spokesperson for the UNHCR, Charlie Yaxley, said: “Life for many refugees is extremely difficult and what we can do is at times very limited.”
Libya in the eye of the storm

Libya has been at the forefront of the migrant crisis and is the embarkation point for many boats that attempt to cross the Mediterranean to Italy.

Libya’s lawlessness since the 2011 war that followed the overthrow of Colonel Gaddafi has seen the rise of numerous militia groups, all competing for a piece of the lucrative migrant trade.

A large part of that trade is the operation of detention centres, officially run by the government but effectively controlled by militia groups. Asylum seekers detained in Libya are held at the centres, where they are often subject to abuse and violence.

The conditions at detention centres has got so bad that the UNHCR prioritise the processing of refugees and migrants that are held in them - as they are considered among the most vulnerable. This has led to asylum seekers actually bribing their way into centres, sources say.

In December, migrants and refugees detained in Khoms Suq al-Khamis started a hunger strike to persuade UNHCR to visit the centre and register them in the hope that this might stop them from being sold and disappeared.

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Amina, a Somali refugee now in Triq al-Sikka facility in Tripoli confirmed to Euronews that she paid money to be “accepted into detention and have a better chance to be registered and evacuated".

The former UN staff member detailed one case where he claims a pregnant rape victim had opted to return to a detention centre in order to be considered for evacuation.

At the Abu Salim detention centre, Eritrean refugees have been begging the detention centre manager to admit them, with the sole hope of being evacuated.

Others are paying to get themselves in to the UNHCR’s Gathering and Departure Facility (GDF) - managed by the Libyan Ministry of Interior, UNHCR and UNHCR’s partner LibAid - in Tripoli, where refugees are normally hosted until their transfer to another state is confirmed.

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There, one refugee awaiting evacuation told Euronews: “The guards who are working at the gate, brought inside Somalian and Eritrean women; they paid 2000 dinars (around 430€) each. We told this to UNHCR, and they asked us not to tell anyone”.

Commenting on the allegations, Yaxley said: “UNHCR takes any claims of misconduct very seriously. Any claim that is found to be valid following an investigation is followed by a zero tolerance approach. We strongly encourage any victims to directly contact our Inspector General’s Office.”.
Lack of information

Aside from bribery, the former employee said that the fate of individual asylum seekers and their families in Libya largely relies on luck.

“It’s up to the office,” the source said.

“At the beginning of 2019, the UNHCR registered a woman from Ivory Coast (which is not among the 9 nationalities that are prioritised according to Cochetel), only because there was a recommendation letter from a higher rank.

“Sometimes you may wait months to register a case because no one will give you approval; there are cases of favouritism and a lazy attitude. All registration processes are unclear.”

Many refugees and asylum seekers in Tripoli complained to Euronews about the lack of information available to them about their personal case. The former employee said that this is part of a strategy at the agency in order to avoid having to deal with the huge amount of admin involved.

“It’s a general attitude not to answer refugees and keep them blind to avoid more requests. In Tripoli, refugees or asylum seekers are left without a clue. They don’t know if they are accepted or rejected.

“They receive very little information about their file and most of the time, no proper update about the process, or in case they have to appeal if their request has been rejected.”

The source said that since September 2017 there is no system in place to appeal against rejection on their refugee status, and asylum seekers don’t know they have the right to appeal the decision within 30 days.

One family from Nigeria, now detained in Az-Zāwiyah detention centre, described their experience.

“The first time we managed to meet UNHCR was secretly in Tarik Al Matar centre in July 2018. Since that time UNHCR is refusing to register us. When we try to ask about our cases they kept telling us later, next time, next time,” the father said.

“Sometimes they avoid us totally. Once, UNHCR has even advised us to return home. My youngest girl has been born in detention and the eldest have some traumatic effects due to a whole lot of horrible stuff they’ve experienced.”

Meanwhile the situation in Libya is only likely to get worse, with a bottleneck in some states like Niger slowing down the evacuation plan from Libya.

There are currently 1,174 evacuees from Libya staying in Niger, including 192 evacuated unaccompanied children, according to UNHCR. With the Emergency Transit Mechanism (ETM) at full capacity, many cases are still pending a decision.

“The Government of Niger has generously offered additional space for up to 1,500 refugees in the Emergency Transit Mechanism run by UNHCR in Niamey with financial support from the European Union,” writes Cochetel in May 2018.

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Mistakes

To make the situation worse, according to the former employee, many mistakes have been made including nationalities wrongly assigned to individuals.

“UNHCR was registering Chadians as Sudanese, or Ethiopians as Eritreans. The UNHCR staff in Libya was not qualified to properly understand the situation,” the source said.

Commenting on that claim, Yaxley said: “UNHCR staff are selected through the same processes as in all other operations worldwide, following human resources rules. There are over 100 national staff working in Libya. UNHCR does not work with external contractors.”

The aforementioned concentration on nine specified nationalities was put in place in order to keep numbers down, the former staff member said.

Libya’s Undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior for Migration, Mohammed Al-Shibani, said that on the contrary the Libyan government is not refusing to register other nationalities. “The nationalities are determined by the UN not by us,” he said.

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Procurement

On issues with procurement, the former staff member points Euronews at the internal UN audit of the operations in Libya, which found that UNHCR designated procurements to 12 partners worth $4.7 million and $4.0 million in 2017 and 2018 respectively.

But the mission “did not conduct any cost-benefit analysis”, opting instead for direct procurement “despite the significant differences between official and market exchange rates.

In 2017 and 2018, “the mission designated procurement exceeding $100,000 to three partners without them being pre-qualified by the Procurement Service at headquarters”. A lack of procurement plans resulted in ’’unnecessary and higher” costs.

For example, the audit found a transaction for eight laptops with total expenditure of $47,067 (equivalent to a unit cost per laptop of $5,883). Moreover, flight tickets amounting to $128,000 and $66,000 during 2017 and 2018 were bought from two different travel agencies without any clear process for selection, as mentioned in the audit and confirmed by a former UN source.

“The mission was unable to demonstrate it used its resources effectively and efficiently in providing for the essential needs of persons of concern. The lack of reporting also increased UNHCR’s reputational risk”, reads the audit.

https://www.euronews.com/2019/10/03/unhcr-in-libya-part-3-former-staffer-blows-whistle-on-favouritism-and-cult
#impunité

UNHCR in Libya Part 4: The detention centres - the map and the stories

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When NGO workers arrived at the Janzoor detention centre in Libya in October 2018 to collect 11 unaccompanied minors due to be returned to their country of origin, they were shocked to find that the young people had completely disappeared.

The failed asylum seekers were registered and ready to go, a staff member at the International Organisation of Migration, who wished to remain anonymous, told Euronews. It took six months to find out what had happened to the group.

“They were sold and their families were asked for ransom”, the former staff member said.

In February 2019, the Libyan government revealed that there were 23 detention centres operating in Libya, holding over 5,000 asylum seekers. While they are officially run by the government, in reality it is Libya’s complex patchwork of militias that are in control.

Even those ostensibly run by Libya’s Directorate for Combatting Illegal Migration (DCIM) are effectively under the control of whichever armed group controls the neighbourhood where a centre is located.
Rule of militias

Militias, also known as “katibas”, are de-facto in control of the gates of the centres and the management. In many cases, migrants and refugees are under arrest in locations which are not considered official detention facilities, but “holding places” for investigation.

By correct protocol, they should be sent to proper detention facilities, but in reality procedures are seldom respected and asylum seekers are detained with no legal review or rights.

For many migrants and refugees, the ordeal begins at sea.

According to the Libyan coast guard, from January to August 2019, nearly 6,000 people were intercepted and brought back to Libya.

On September 19, a man from Sudan died after being shot in the stomach hours after being returned to shore.

The IOM, whose staff witnessed the attack, said it occurred at Abusitta disembarkation point in Tripoli, when 103 people that had been returned to shore were resisting being sent back to detention centres.

IOM staff who were on the scene, reported that armed men began shooting in the air when several migrants tried to run away from their guards.

“The death is a stark reminder of the grim conditions faced by migrants picked up by the Coast Guard after paying smugglers to take them to Europe, only to find themselves put into detention centres” said IOM Spokesperson Leonard Doyle.

With conflict escalating in Tripoli and many detention centres located on the frontline, the majority of the people intercepted by Libyan coast guards are brought to al-Khoms, a coastal city 120km east of the Libyan capital.

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Tortured, sold, and released

According to UN sources, guards at the city’s two detention facilities - al-Khoms and Souq al-Khamis - have either facilitated access to the militias or were afraid to deny them access.

“Let me be honest with you, I don’t trust anyone in al-Khoms centre,” a former DCIM official told Euronews.

“The detention centre has been officially closed by the DCIM but the militia there do whatever they want and they don’t respect the orders given by the Ministry of Interior.

“People have been tortured, sold and released after paying money. The management and the militia in al-Khoms, they act independently from the government”.

Last June, during the protection sector coordination meeting in Tripoli, UN agencies and international organisations raised the question of people disappearing on a daily basis.

“In one week at least 100 detainees disappeared and despite the closure of the centre, the Libyan coast guard continued to bring refugees to al-Khoms detention centre” according to a note of the meeting seen by Euronews.

The head of an international organisation present at the meeting, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “Many organisations have been turning their back on the situation, as they were not visiting the centre anymore.

“19 people from Eritrea were at risk, including young ladies between 14 and 19 years old”.

During a press briefing last June, the spokesman for UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Rupert Colville, reported that women held in detention have been sold into sexual exploitation.

David, a migrant who had been detained in Misrata detention centre was able to get out after transiting from a safe house in al-Khoms. He said that centre staff “had been extorting money from detainees for months.

“I didn’t have a choice as the UN refused to register me because I come from Central African Republic and my nationality is not among the one recognised by UNHCR.”

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Detention centres are still open

In August 2019, Libyan authorities in Tripoli confirmed the shutdown of three detention centres in Misrata, Khoms and Tajoura, but DCIM officers and migrants held in detention confirmed to Euronews that the centres are still open.

While it is impossible to independently verify the current status of the facilities - as as the Ministry of Interior in Tripoli does not authorise access to them - Euronews was able to speak on the phone with detainees.

“Just bring a letter with the authorisation from the Ministry of Interior and I will let you enter,” said one commander from Tajoura on the phone, confirming that the centre was still running.

Another source at the DCIM in Tripoli mentioned that Tajoura was still running and the militia was mainly arresting people from street to fill the hangars again.

The decision to close the Az-Zāwiyah detention centre - mentioned in PART 1 and 2 - was taken in April 2018 by former head of DCIM Colonel Mohamed Besher. But the centre has instead been transformed into an arrest and investigation centre.

Located at the Az-Zāwiyah Refinery, which is secured by Al-Nasser brigade since 2011, it is close to the base of the Az-Zāwiyah coastguard

Both the commander of the Libyan Coast Guard’s Unit and the head of Al-Nasr brigade are sanctioned by UN and the United States for alleged involvement in human trafficking and migrant smuggling.

Mohammed Kushlaf is working in cooperation with “Osama” (➡️ SEE PART 2), who is in charge of the detention facility. His name appears 67 times in the recent investigation conducted by Italian prosecutor Luigi Patronaggio.

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‘Inhumane conditions’

The investigation had “confirmed the inhumane conditions” endured by many migrants and “the need to act, at an international level, to protect their most basic human rights.”

The Government of National Accord has supported the UN sanctions and issued public statements of condemnation against the trafficking and smuggling of migrants.

The Libyan prosecutor has also issued an order to suspend the commander of the Libyan Coast Guard and bring him into custody for investigations, although this was never implemented, confirmed a Libyan lawyer working at the Ministry of Justice.

Sources at the DCIM mentioned that between September 2018 and April 2019 - when the Libyan National Army (LNA) troops guided by the general Khalifa Haftar seized Tripoli’s southern suburbs – many detention centres were located near the clashes.

Salaheddin, Ain Zara, Qasr Bin Ghashir and Tariq Al Matar detention centres have been closed because of the conflict.

As a result, large groups of refugees and migrants have been displaced or transferred to other locations. A DCIM officer in Tripoli mentioned that “The Tariq Al Matar centre was in the middle of the clashes and many refugees left to find safety in other areas after a few people were injured. A group was transferred to Ain Zara and another to Janzour detention centre, some 20 kilometres southwest of Tripoli’s centre.”

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Migrants being recruited to help militia in Libya’s civil war

In September and several times in December and January, refugees say they were forced to move and pack weapons as fighting between rival armed groups in the capital of Tripoli flared up.

They also engaged directly with local militia, from the Tripoli suburb of Tarhouna, that was controlling Qasr Bin Ghashir detention centre at the time.

“No one was fighting on the front but they would ask us to open and close the gate and move and pack weapons”, said Musa, a Sudanese refugee who left Qasr Bin Ghashir in April following the attack.

On October 2, Abdalmajed Adam, a refugee from South Sudan was also injured by a random bullet on his shoulder and was taken to a military hospital,” adds Musa.

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The militia who is controlling the area where Abu Salim detention centre is located is known as Ghaniwa and is aligned to the GNA.

The group has been asking refugees, especially Sudanese – as they speak Arabic - to follow them to the frontline.

“Last August they bought us to Wadi Al-Rabea in southern Tripoli, and asked us to load weapons. I was one of them. They took five of us from the centre,” said Amir, a Sudanese asylum seeker who is detained in Abu Salim.

A former DCIM officer confirmed that in June 2018, the head of Abu Salim DCIM, Mohamed al-Mashay (aka Abu Azza), was killed by an armed group following internal disputes over power.

The Qasr Bin Ghashir detention centre, in which 700 people were locked up, was attacked on April 23. Video and photographic evidence shows refugees and migrants trapped in detention having incurred gunshot wounds.

Multiple reports suggested several deaths and at least 12 people injured. A former DCIM officer mentioned that behind the attack there was a dispute over the control of the territory: it is a very strategic point being the main road to enter to Tripoli.

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#torture #traite_d'êtres_humains #cartographie #visualisation #localisation

v. aussi :
►https://seenthis.net/messages/772984

Gen Khalifa Haftar’s forces close in on Tripoli

UN’s Guterres ‘deeply concerned’ after meeting with Libyan National Army leader.

Dozens of migrants and refugees in a Tripoli detention centre were dressed in old military uniforms and ordered to begin packing weapons this week, as rival forces began to march on the Libyan capital.

▻https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/africa/gen-khalifa-haftar-s-forces-close-in-on-tripoli-1.3851141

Libia, #Qasr_Bin_Ghashir: necessaria l’urgente evacuazione! 10 aprile

Il centro di detenzione di Qasr Bin Ghashir, Tripoli, Libia, al quinto giorno senza acqua e senza cibo.
500 persone prese sulla linea del fronte, abbandonate all’interno dalle milizie in fuga.

▻https://vimeo.com/329685644

’We are in a fire’: Libya’s detained refugees trapped by conflict

Detainees at detention centre on the outskirts of Tripoli live in fear amid intense clashes for control of the capital.

Refugees and migrants trapped on the front line of fierce fighting in Libya’s capital, Tripoli, are pleading to be rescued from the war-torn country while being “surrounded by heavy weapons and militants”.

Hit by food and water shortages, detainees at the #Qasr_bin_Ghashir detention centre on the southern outskirts of Tripoli, told Al Jazeera they were “abandoned” on Saturday by fleeing guards, who allegedly told the estimated 728 people being held at the facility to fend for themselves.

The refugees and migrants used hidden phones to communicate and requested that their names not be published.

“[There are] no words to describe the fear of the women and children,” an Eritrean male detainee said on Saturday.

“We are afraid of [the] noise... fired from the air and the weapons. I feel that we are abandoned to our fate.”
Fighting rages on Tripoli outskirts

Tripoli’s southern outskirts have been engulfed by fighting since renegade General Khalifa Haftar’s eastern forces launched an assault on the capital earlier this month in a bid to wrestle control of the city from Libya’s internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA).

The showdown threatens to further destabilise war-wracked Libya, which splintered into a patchwork of rival power bases following the overthrow of former leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

At least 121 people have been killed and 561 wounded since Haftar’s self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) started its offensive on April 4, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

https://i.imgur.com/0hjVVhT.png

Both sides have repeatedly carried out air raids and accuse each other of targeting civilians.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), for its part, estimates more than 15,000 people have been displaced so far, with a “significant number” of others stuck in live conflict zones.

Amid the fighting, refugees and migrants locked up in detention centres throughout the capital, many of whom fled war and persecution in countries including Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan, are warning that their lives are at risk.

“We find ourselves in a fire,” a 15-year-old detainee at Qasr bin Ghashir told Al Jazeera.
Electricity outage, water shortages

Others held at the centre described the abject conditions they were subject to, including a week-long stint without electricity and working water pumps.

One detainee in her 30s, who alleged the centre’s manager assaulted her, also said they had gone more than a week until Saturday with “no food, [and] no water”, adding the situation “was not good” and saying women are particularly vulnerable now.

This is the third time since August that detainees in Qasr bin Ghashir have been in the middle of clashes, she said.

Elsewhere in the capital, refugees and migrants held at the #Abu_Salim detention centre also said they could “hear the noise of weapons” and needed protection.

“At this time, we want quick evacuation,” said one detainee at Abu Salim, which sits about 20km north of Qasr bin Ghashir.

“We’ve stayed years with much torture and suffering, we don’t have any resistance for anything. We are (under) deep pressure and stressed … People are very angry and afraid.”
’Take us from Libya, please’

Tripoli’s detention centres are formally under the control of the GNA’s Department for Combatting Illegal Migration (DCIM), though many are actually run by militias.

The majority of the approximately 6,000 people held in the facilities were intercepted on the Mediterranean Sea and brought back to the North African country after trying to reach Europe as part of a two-year agreement under which which the European Union supports the Libyan coastguard with funds, ships and training, in return for carrying out interceptions and rescues.

In a statement to Al Jazeera, an EU spokesperson said the bloc’s authorities were “closely monitoring the situation in Libya” from a “political, security and humanitarian point of view” though they could not comment on Qasr bin Ghashir specifically.

DCIM, for its part, did not respond to a request for comment.

The UN, however, continues to reiterate that Libya is not a safe country for refugees and migrants to return.

Amid the ongoing conflict, the organisation’s human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, warned last week of the need to “ensure protection of extremely vulnerable civilians”, including refugees and migrants who may be living “under significant peril”.

Bachelet also called for authorities to ensure that prisons and detention centres are not abandoned, and for all parties to guarantee that the treatment of detainees is in line with international law.

In an apparent move to safeguard the refugees and migrants being held near the capital, Libyan authorities attempted last week to move detainees at Qasr bin Ghashir to another detention centre in #Zintan, nearly 170km southwest of Tripoli.

But those being held in Qasr bin Ghashir refused to leave, arguing the solution is not a move elsewhere in Libya but rather a rescue from the country altogether.

“All Libya [is a] war zone,” an Eritrean detainee told Al Jazeera.

“Take us from Libya, please. Where is humanity and where is human rights,” the detainee asked.

▻https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/04/fire-libya-detained-refugees-trapped-conflict-190414150247858.html

700+ refugees & migrants - including more than 150 women & children - are trapped in a detention centre on the front lines, amid renewed clashes in Tripoli. The below photos, taken today, show where a jet was downed right beside them.

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ESCLUSIVO TPI: “Senza cibo né acqua, pestati a sangue dai soldati”: la guerra in Libia vista dai migranti rinchiusi nei centri di detenzione

“I rifugiati detenuti in Libia stanno subendo le più drammatiche conseguenze della guerra civile esplosa nel paese”.

È la denuncia a TPI di Giulia Tranchina, avvocato che, a Londra, si occupa di rifugiati per lo studio legale Wilson Solicitor.

Tranchina è in contatto con i migranti rinchiusi nei centri di detenzione libici e, da tempo, denuncia abusi e torture perpetrate ai loro danni.

L’esplosione della guerra ha reso le condizioni di vita delle migliaia di rifugiati presenti nei centri governativi ancora più disumane.

La gestione dei centri è stata bocciata anche dagli organismi internazionali in diversi rapporti, ignorati dai governi europei e anche da quello italiano, rapporti dove si evidenzia la violazione sistematica delle convenzioni internazionali, le condizioni sanitarie agghiaccianti e continue torture.

▻https://www.tpi.it/2019/04/13/guerra-libia-migranti-centri-di-detenzione
#guerre_civile

The humanitarian fallout from Libya’s newest war

The Libyan capital of Tripoli is shuddering under an offensive by forces loyal to strongman Khalifa Haftar, with the city’s already precarious basic services in danger of breaking down completely and aid agencies struggling to cope with a growing emergency.

In the worst and most sustained fighting the country has seen since the 2011 uprising that ousted Muammar Gaddafi, the Haftar-led Libyan National Army, or LNA, surged into the city – controlled by the UN-backed Government of National Accord, or GNA – on 4 April.

Fighting continues across a string of southern suburbs, with airstrikes and rocket and artillery fire from both sides hammering front lines and civilians alike.

“It is terrible; they use big guns at night, the children can’t sleep,” said one resident of the capital, who declined to give her name for publication. “The shots land everywhere.”

The violence has displaced thousands of people and trapped hundreds of migrants and refugees in detention centres. Some analysts also think it has wrecked years of diplomacy, including attempts by the UN to try to build political consensus in Libya, where various militias support the two major rivals for power: the Tripoli-based GNA and the Haftar-backed House of Representatives, based in the eastern city of Tobruk.

“Detained migrants and refugees, including women and children, are particularly vulnerable.”

“Pandora’s box has been opened,” said Jalel Harchaoui, a research fellow at Clingendael Institute think tank in The Hague. “The military operation [to capture Tripoli] has inflicted irreversible damage upon a modus vivendi and a large set of political dialogues that has required four years of diplomatic work.”
Civilians in the line of fire

Media reports and eyewitnesses in the city said residents face agonising decisions about when to go out, and risk the indiscriminate fire, in search of food and other essentials from the few shops that are open.

One resident said those in Tripoli face the dilemma of whether to stay in their homes or leave, with no clear idea of what part of the city will be targeted next.

The fighting is reportedly most intense in the southern suburbs, which until two weeks ago included some of the most tranquil and luxurious homes in the city. Now these districts are a rubble-strewn battleground, made worse by the ever-changing positions of LNA forces and militias that support the GNA.

This battle comes to a city already struggling with chaos and militia violence, with residents having known little peace since the NATO-backed revolt eight years ago.

“Since 2011, Libyans have faced one issue after another: shortages of cooking gas, electricity, water, lack of medicines, infrastructure in ruin and neglect,” said one woman who lives in an eastern suburb of Tripoli. “Little is seen at community level, where money disappears into pockets [of officials]. Hospitals are unsanitary and barely function. Education is a shambles of poor schools and stressed teachers.”
Aid agencies scrambling

Only a handful of aid agencies have a presence in Tripoli, where local services are now badly stretched.

The World Health Organisation reported on 14 April that the death toll was 147 and 614 people had been wounded, cautioning that the latter figure may be higher as some overworked hospitals have stopped counting the numbers treated.

“We are still working on keeping the medical supplies going,” a WHO spokesperson said. “We are sending out additional surgical staff to support hospitals coping with large caseloads of wounded, for example anaesthetists.”

The UN’s emergency coordination body, OCHA, said that 16,000 people had been forced to flee by the fighting, 2,000 on 13 April alone when fighting intensified across the front line with a series of eight airstrikes. OCHA says the past few years of conflict have left at least 823,000 people, including 248,000 children, “in dire need of humanitarian assistance”.

UNICEF appealed for $4.7 million to provide emergency assistance to the half a million children and their families it estimates live in and around Tripoli.
Migrants and refugees

Some of the worst off are more than 1,500 migrants trapped in a string of detention centres in the capital and nearby. The UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, said over the weekend it was trying to organise the evacuation of refugees from a migrant camp close to the front lines. “We are in contact with refugees in Qaser Ben Gashir and so far they remain safe from information received,” the agency said in a tweet.

At least one media report said migrants and refugees at the centre felt they had been abandoned and feared for their lives.

UNHCR estimates there are some 670,000 migrants and refugees in Libya, including more than 6,000 in detention centres.

In its appeal, UNICEF said it was alarmed by reports that some migrant detention centres have been all but abandoned, with the migrants unable to get food and water. “The breakdown in the food supply line has resulted in a deterioration of the food security in detention centres,” the agency said. “Detained migrants and refugees, including women and children, are particularly vulnerable, especially those in detention centres located in the vicinity of the fighting.”

Many migrants continue to hope to find a boat to Europe, but that task has been made harder by the EU’s March decision to scale down the rescue part of Operation Sophia, its Mediterranean anti-smuggling mission.

“The breakdown in the food supply line has resulted in a deterioration of the food security in detention centres.”

Search-and-rescue missions run by nongovernmental organisations have had to slow down and sometimes shutter their operations as European governments refuse them permission to dock. On Monday, Malta said it would not allow the crew of a ship that had been carrying 64 people rescued off the coast of Libya to disembark on its shores. The ship was stranded for two weeks as European governments argued over what to do with the migrants, who will now be split between four countries.

Eugenio Cusumano, an international security expert specialising in migration research at Lieden University in the Netherlands, said a new surge of migrants and refugees may now be heading across the sea in a desperate attempt to escape the fighting. He said they will find few rescue craft, adding: “If the situation in Libya deteriorates there will be a need for offshore patrol assets.”
Failed diplomacy

Haftar’s LNA says its objective is to liberate the city from militia control, while the GNA has accused its rival of war crimes and called for prosecutions.

International diplomatic efforts to end the fighting appear to have floundered. Haftar launched his offensive on the day that UN Secretary-General António Guterres was visiting Tripoli – a visit designed to bolster long-delayed, UN-chaired talks with the various parties in the country, which were due to be held this week.

The UN had hoped the discussions, known as the National Conference, might pave the way for elections later this year, but they ended up being cancelled due to the upsurge in fighting.

Guterres tried to de-escalate the situation by holding emergency talks with the GNA in Tripoli and flying east to see Haftar in Benghazi. But as foreign powers reportedly line up behind different sides, his calls for a ceasefire – along with condemnation from the UN Security Council and the EU – have so far been rebuffed.

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“They (tell) migrants that if you know how to shoot a gun we will make you stay with us.”

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Detained refugees in Libya moved to safety in second UNHCR relocation

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, today relocated another 150 refugees who were detained in the #Abu_Selim detention centre in south Tripoli to UNHCR’s #Gathering_and_Departure_Facility (#GDF) in the centre of Libya’s capital, safe from hostilities.

The Abu Selim detention centre is one of several in Libya that has been impacted by hostilities since clashes erupted in the capital almost a fortnight ago.

Refugees at the centre told UNHCR that they were petrified and traumatised by the fighting, fearing for their lives.

UNHCR staff who were present and organizing the relocation today reported that clashes were around 10 kilometres away from the centre and were clearly audible.

While UNHCR intended to relocate more refugees, due to a rapid escalation of fighting in the area this was not possible. UNHCR hopes to resume this life-saving effort as soon as conditions on the ground allow.

“It is a race against time to move people out of harm’s way. Conflict and deteriorating security conditions hamper how much we can do,” said UNHCR’s Assistant Chief of Mission in Libya, Lucie Gagne.

“We urgently need solutions for people trapped in Libya, including humanitarian evacuations to transfer those most vulnerable out of the country.”

Refugees who were relocated today were among those most vulnerable and in need and included women and children. The relocation was conducted with the support of UNHCR’s partner, International Medical Corps and the Libyan Ministry of Interior.

This relocation is the second UNHCR-organized transfer since the recent escalation of the conflict in Libya.

Last week UNHCR relocated more than 150 refugees from the Ain Zara detention centre also in south Tripoli to the GDF, bringing the total number of refugees currently hosted at the GDF to more than 400.

After today’s relocation, there remain more than 2,700 refugees and migrants detained and trapped in areas where clashes are ongoing. In addition to those remaining at Abu Selim, other detention centres impacted and in proximity to hostilities include the Qasr Bin Ghasheer, Al Sabaa and Tajoura centres.

Current conditions in the country continue to underscore the fact that Libya is a dangerous place for refugees and migrants, and that those rescued and intercepted at sea should not be returned there. UNHCR has repeatedly called for an end to detention for refugees and migrants.

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▻https://www.unhcr.org/news/press/2019/4/5cb60a984/detained-refugees-libya-moved-safety-second-unhcr-relocation.html

Libya’s migrants under threat as battle for Tripoli sets in

Migrants locked in detention camps in Tripoli face increasing danger as the prospect of a drawn-out siege looms. Inconsistent responses from Europe to the crisis have left them little hope.

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▻https://www.dw.com/en/libyas-migrants-under-threat-as-battle-for-tripoli-sets-in/a-48351094

Libye : l’ONU a évacué 150 réfugiés supplémentaires d’un camp de détention

L’ONU a annoncé mardi avoir évacué 150 réfugiés supplémentaires d’une centre de détention à Tripoli touché par des combats, ajoutant ne pas avoir été en mesure d’en déplacer d’autres en raison de l’intensification des affrontements.

La Haut-commissariat aux réfugiés (HCR) a précisé avoir évacué ces réfugiés, parmi lesquels des femmes et des enfants, du centre de détention Abou Sélim, dans le sud de la capitale libyenne, vers son Centre de rassemblement et de départ dans le centre-ville.

Cette opération a été effectuée au milieu de violents combats entre les forces du maréchal Khalifa Haftar et celles du Gouvernement d’union nationale (GNA) libyen.

« C’est une course contre la montre pour mettre les gens à l’abri », a déclaré la cheffe adjointe de la mission du HCR en Libye, Lucie Gagne, dans un communiqué. « Le conflit et la détérioration des conditions de sécurité entravent nos capacités », a-t-elle regretté.

Au moins 174 personnes ont été tuées et 758 autres blessés dans la bataille pour le contrôle de Tripoli, a annoncé mardi l’Organisation mondiale de la Santé (OMS).

Abu Sélim est l’un des centres de détention qui ont été touchés par les combats. Le HCR, qui avait déjà évacué la semaine dernière plus de 150 migrants de centre de détention d’Ain Zara, a indiqué qu’il voulait en évacuer d’autres mardi mais qu’il ne n’avait pu le faire en raison d’une aggravation rapide des combats dans cette zone.

Les réfugiés évacués mardi étaient « traumatisés » par les combats, a rapporté le HCR, ajoutant que des combats avaient lieu à seulement une dizaine de km.

« Il nous faut d’urgence des solutions pour les gens piégés en Libye, y compris des évacuations humanitaires pour transférer les plus vulnérables hors du pays », a déclaré Mme Gagne.

Selon le HCR, plus de 400 personnes se trouvent désormais dans son centre de rassemblement et de départ, mais plus de 2.700 réfugiés sont encore détenus et bloqués dans des zones de combats.

La Libye « est un endroit dangereux pour les réfugiés et les migrants », a souligné le HCR. « Ceux qui sont secourus et interceptés en mer ne devraient pas être renvoyés là-bas ».

▻https://www.lorientlejour.com/article/1166761/libye-lonu-a-evacue-150-refugies-supplementaires-dun-camp-de-detentio

Libya: Detained refugees shot as clashes near Tripoli continue

Refugees and migrants request immediate medical assistance as several people are reportedly wounded by gunfire.

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Footage shows refugees hiding as Libyan militia attack detention centre

At least two people reportedly killed in shooting at Qasr bin Ghashir facility near Tripoli.

Young refugees held in a detention centre in Libya have described being shot at indiscriminately by militias advancing on Tripoli, in an attack that reportedly left at least two people dead and up to 20 injured.

Phone footage smuggled out of the camp and passed to the Guardian highlights the deepening humanitarian crisis in the centres set up to prevent refugees and migrants from making the sea crossing from the north African coast to Europe.

The footage shows people cowering in terror in the corners of a hangar while gunshots can be heard and others who appear to have been wounded lying on makeshift stretchers.

The shooting on Tuesday at the Qasr bin Ghashir detention centre, 12 miles (20km) south of Tripoli, is thought to be the first time a militia has raided such a building and opened fire.

Witnesses said men, women and children were praying together when soldiers they believe to be part of the forces of the military strongman Khalifa Haftar, which are advancing on the Libyan capital to try to bring down the UN-backed government, stormed into the detention centre and demanded people hand over their phones.

When the occupants refused, the soldiers began shooting, according to the accounts. Phones are the only link to the outside world for many in the detention centres.

Amnesty International has called for a war crimes investigation into the incident. “This incident demonstrates the urgent need for all refugees and migrants to be immediately released from these horrific detention centres,” said the organisation’s spokeswoman, Magdalena Mughrabi.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said a review of the video evidence by its medical doctors had concluded the injuries were consistent with gunshot wounds. “These observations are further supported by numerous accounts from refugees and migrants who witnessed the event and reported being brutally and indiscriminately attacked with the use of firearms,” a statement said.

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said it evacuated 325 people from the detention centre after the incident. A statement suggested guns were fired into air and 12 people “endured physical attacks” that required hospital treatment, but none sustained bullet wounds.

“The dangers for refugees and migrants in Tripoli have never been greater than they are at present,” said Matthew Brook, the refugee agency’s deputy mission chief in Libya. “It is vital that refugees in danger can be released and evacuated to safety.”

The Guardian has previously revealed there is a network of 26 Libyan detention centres where an estimated 6,000 refugees are held. Children have described being starved, beaten and abused by Libyan police and camp guards. The UK contributes funding to humanitarian assistance provided in the centres by NGOs and the International Organization for Migration.

Qasr bin Ghashir is on the frontline of the escalating battle in Libya between rival military forces. Child refugees in the camp started sending SOS messages earlier this month, saying: “The war is started. We are in a bad situation.”

In WhatsApp messages sent to the Guardian on Tuesday, some of the child refugees said: “Until now, no anyone came here to help us. Not any organisations. Please, please, please, a lot of blood going out from people. Please, we are in dangerous conditions, please world, please, we are in danger.”

Many of the children and young people in the detention centres have fled persecution in Eritrea and cannot return. Many have also tried to cross the Mediterranean to reach Italy, but have been pushed back by the Libyan coastguard, which receives EU funding.

Giulia Tranchina, an immigration solicitor in London, has been raising the alarm for months about the plight of refugees in the centres. “I have been in touch with seven refugees in Qasr Bin Gashir since last September,. Many are sick and starving,” she said.

“All of them tried to escape across the Mediterranean to Italy, but were pushed back to the detention centre by the Libyan coastguard. Some were previously imprisoned by traffickers in Libya for one to two years. Many have been recognised by UNHCR as genuine refugees.”

Tranchina took a statement from a man who escaped from the centre after the militia started shooting. “We were praying in the hangar. The women joined us for prayer. The guards came in and told us to hand over our phones,” he said.

“When we refused, they started shooting. I saw gunshot wounds to the head and neck, I think that without immediate medical treatment, those people would die.

“I’m now in a corrugated iron shack in Tripoli with a few others who escaped, including three women with young children. Many were left behind and we have heard that they have been locked in.”

A UK government spokesperson said: “We are deeply concerned by reports of violence at the Qasr Ben Ghashir detention centre, and call on all parties to allow civilians, including refugees and migrants, to be evacuated to safety.”

• Amnesty International, Médecins Sans Frontières and other NGOs are suing the French government to stop the donation of six boats to Libya’s navy, saying they will be used to send migrants back to detention centres. EU support to the Libyan coastguard, which is part of the navy, has enabled it to intercept migrants and asylum seekers bound for Europe. The legal action seeks a suspension on the boat donation, saying it violates an EU embargo on the supply of military equipment to Libya.

►https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/25/libya-detention-centre-attack-footage-refugees-hiding-shooting

From Bad to Worse for Migrants Trapped in Detention in Libya

Footage (►https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/25/libya-detention-centre-attack-footage-refugees-hiding-shooting) revealed to the Guardian shows the panic of migrants and refugees trapped in the detention facility Qasr bin Ghashir close to Tripoli under indiscriminate fire from advancing militia. According to the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR more than 3,300 people trapped in detention centres close to the escalating fighting are at risk and the agency is working to evacuate migrants from the “immediate danger”.

Fighting is intensifying between Libyan National Army (LNA) loyal to Khalifa Haftar and the UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) around the capital Tripoli. There have been reports on deaths and forced enlistment among migrants and refugees trapped in detention centres, which are overseen by the Libyan Department for Combating Illegal Migration but often run by militias.

Amid the intense fighting the EU-backed Libyan coastguard continues to intercept and return people trying to cross the Mediteranean. According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) 113 people were returned to the Western part of the country this week. In a Tweet the UN Agency states: “we reiterate that Libya is not a safe port and that arbitrary detention must end.”

Former UNHCR official, Jeff Crisp, calls it: “…extraordinary that the UN has not made a direct appeal to the EU to suspend the support it is giving to the Libyan coastguard”, and further states that: “Europe has the option of doing nothing and that is what it will most likely do.”

UNHCR has evacuated 500 people to the Agencies Gathering and Departure Facility in Tripoli and an additional 163 to the Emergency Transit Mechanism in Niger. However, with both mechanisms “approaching full capacity” the Agency urges direct evacuations out of Libya. On April 29, 146 refugees were evacuated from Libya to Italy in a joint operation between UNHCR and Italian and Libyan authorities.

▻https://www.ecre.org/from-bad-to-worse-for-migrants-trapped-in-detention-in-libya

Libia, la denuncia di Msf: «Tremila migranti bloccati vicino ai combattimenti, devono essere evacuati»

A due mesi dall’inizio dei combattimenti tra i militari del generale Khalifa Haftar e le milizie fedeli al governo di Tripoli di Fayez al-Sarraj, i capimissione di Medici Senza Frontiere per la Libia hanno incontrato la stampa a Roma per fare il punto della situazione. «I combattimenti hanno interessato centomila persone, di queste tremila sono migranti e rifugiati bloccati nei centri di detenzione che sorgono nelle aree del conflitto - ha spiegato Sam Turner -. Per questo chiediamo la loro immediata evacuazione. Solo portandoli via da quelle aree si possono salvare delle vite».

▻https://video.repubblica.it/dossier/migranti-2019/libia-la-denuncia-di-msf-tremila-migranti-bloccati-vicino-ai-combattimenti-devono-essere-evacuati/336337/336934?ref=twhv

Et #travail_forcé dans les centres de détention libyens :
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/785516

Libia, attacco aereo al centro migranti. 60 morti. Salvini: «E’ un crimine di Haftar, il mondo deve reagire»

Il bombardamento è stato effettuato dalle forze del generale Khalifa Haftar, sostenute dalla Francia e dagli Emirati. Per l’inviato Onu si tratta di crimine di guerra. Il Consiglio di sicurezza dell’Onu si riunisce domani per una sessione d’urgenza.

Decine di migranti sono stati uccisi nel bombardamento che ieri notte un aereo dell’aviazione del generale Khalifa Haftar ha compiuto contro un centro per migranti adiacente alla base militare di #Dhaman, nell’area di #Tajoura. La base di Dhaman è uno dei depositi in cui le milizie di Misurata e quelle fedeli al governo del presidente Fayez al-Serraj hanno concentrato le loro riserve di munizioni e di veicoli utilizzati per la difesa di Tripoli, sotto attacco dal 4 aprile dalle milizie del generale della Cirenaica.

▻https://www.repubblica.it/esteri/2019/07/03/news/libia_bombardato_centro_detenzione_migranti_decine_di_morti-230198952/?ref=RHPPTP-BH-I230202229-C12-P1-S1.12-T1

Le HCR et l’OIM condamnent l’attaque contre Tajoura et demandent une enquête immédiate sur les responsables

Le nombre effroyable de blessés et de victimes, suite à l’attaque aérienne de mardi soir à l’est de Tripoli contre le centre de détention de Tajoura, fait écho aux vives préoccupations exprimées par le HCR, l’Agence des Nations Unies pour les réfugiés, et l’Organisation internationale pour les migrations (OIM), concernant la sécurité des personnes dans les centres de détention. Ce tout dernier épisode de violence rend également compte du danger évoqué par l’OIM et le HCR concernant les retours de migrants et de réfugiés en Libye après leur interception ou leur sauvetage en mer Méditerranée.

Nos deux organisations condamnent fermement cette attaque ainsi que toute attaque contre la vie des civils. Nous demandons également que la détention des migrants et des réfugiés cesse immédiatement. Nous appelons à ce que leur protection soit garantie en Libye.

Cette attaque mérite davantage qu’une simple condamnation. Selon le HCR et l’OIM, une enquête complète et indépendante est nécessaire pour déterminer comment cela s’est produit et qui en est responsable, ainsi que pour traduire les responsables en justice. La localisation de ces centres de détention à Tripoli est bien connue des combattants, qui savent également que les personnes détenues à Tajoura sont des civils.

Au moins 600 réfugiés et migrants, dont des femmes et des enfants, se trouvaient au centre de détention de Tajoura. La frappe aérienne a causé des dizaines de morts et de blessés. Nous nous attendons de ce fait que le nombre final de victimes soit beaucoup plus élevé.

Si l’on inclut les victimes de Tajoura, environ 3300 migrants et réfugiés sont toujours détenus arbitrairement à Tripoli et en périphérie de la ville dans des conditions abjectes et inhumaines. De plus, les migrants et les réfugiés sont confrontés à des risques croissants à mesure que les affrontements s’intensifient à proximité. Ces centres doivent être fermés.

Nous faisons tout notre possible pour leur venir en aide. L’OIM et le HCR ont déployé des équipes médicales. Par ailleurs, une équipe interinstitutions plus large des Nations Unies attend l’autorisation de se rendre sur place. Nous rappelons à toutes les parties à ce conflit que les civils ne doivent pas être pris pour cible et qu’ils doivent être protégés en vertu à la fois du droit international relatif aux réfugiés et du droit international relatif aux droits de l’homme.

Le conflit en cours dans la capitale libyenne a déjà forcé près de 100 000 Libyens à fuir leur foyer. Le HCR et ses partenaires, dont l’OIM, ont transféré plus de 1500 réfugiés depuis des centres de détention proches des zones de combat vers des zones plus sûres. Par ailleurs, des opérations de l’OIM pour le retour volontaire à titre humanitaire ont facilité le départ de plus de 5000 personnes vulnérables vers 30 pays d’origine en Afrique et en Asie.

L’OIM et le HCR exhortent l’ensemble du système des Nations Unies à condamner cette attaque et à faire cesser le recours à la détention en Libye. De plus, nous appelons instamment la communauté internationale à mettre en place des couloirs humanitaires pour les migrants et les réfugiés qui doivent être évacués depuis la Libye. Dans l’intérêt de tous en Libye, nous espérons que les États influents redoubleront d’efforts pour coopérer afin de mettre d’urgence un terme à cet effroyable conflit.

▻https://www.unhcr.org/fr/news/press/2019/7/5d1ca1f06/hcr-loim-condamnent-lattaque-contre-tajoura-demandent-enquete-immediate.html

Affamés, torturés, disparus : l’impitoyable piège refermé sur les migrants bloqués en Libye

https://images.charentelibre.fr/2019/07/03/5d1cc8197971bb93700d2e83/golden/1000x625/malnutrition-enlevements-travail-force-torture-des-ong-presentes-en-libye-denoncent-les-conditions-de-detention-des-migrants-pieges-dans-ce-pays.jpg

Malnutrition, enlèvements, travail forcé, torture : des ONG présentes en Libye dénoncent les conditions de détention des migrants piégés dans ce pays, conséquence selon elles de la politique migratoire des pays européens conclue avec les Libyens.

Le point, minuscule dans l’immensité de la mer, est ballotté avec violence : mi-mai, un migrant qui tentait de quitter la Libye dans une embarcation de fortune a préféré risquer sa vie en plongeant en haute mer en voyant arriver les garde-côtes libyens, pour nager vers un navire commercial, selon une vidéo mise en ligne par l’ONG allemande Sea-Watch et tournée par son avion de recherche. L’image illustre le désespoir criant de migrants, en grande majorité originaires d’Afrique et de pays troublés comme le Soudan, l’Érythrée, la Somalie, prêts à tout pour ne pas être à nouveau enfermés arbitrairement dans un centre de détention dans ce pays livré au conflit et aux milices.

Des vidéos insoutenables filmées notamment dans des prisons clandestines aux mains de trafiquants d’êtres humains, compilées par une journaliste irlandaise et diffusées en février par Channel 4, donnent une idée des sévices de certains tortionnaires perpétrés pour rançonner les familles des migrants. Allongé nu par terre, une arme pointée sur lui, un migrant râle de douleur alors qu’un homme lui brûle les pieds avec un chalumeau. Un autre, le tee-shirt ensanglanté, est suspendu au plafond, un pistolet braqué sur la tête. Un troisième, attaché avec des cordes, une brique de béton lui écrasant dos et bras, est fouetté sur la plante des pieds, selon ces vidéos.

Le mauvais traitement des migrants a atteint un paroxysme dans la nuit de mardi à mercredi quand plus de 40 ont été tués et 70 blessés dans un raid aérien contre un centre pour migrants de Tajoura (près de Tripoli), attribué aux forces de Khalifa Haftar engagées dans une offensive sur la capitale libyenne. Un drame « prévisible » depuis des semaines, déplorent des acteurs humanitaires. Depuis janvier, plus de 2.300 personnes ont été ramenées et placées dans des centres de détention, selon l’ONU.

« Plus d’un millier de personnes ont été ramenées par les gardes-côtes libyens soutenus par l’Union européenne depuis le début du conflit en avril 2019. A terre, ces personnes sont ensuite transférées dans des centres de détention comme celui de Tajoura… », a ce réagi mercredi auprès de l’AFP Julien Raickman, chef de mission de l’ONG Médecins sans frontières (MSF) en Libye. Selon les derniers chiffres de l’Organisation internationale pour les migrations (OIM), au moins 5.200 personnes sont actuellement dans des centres de détention en Libye. Aucun chiffre n’est disponible pour celles détenues dans des centres illégaux aux mains de trafiquants.

L’UE apporte un soutien aux gardes-côtes libyens pour qu’ils freinent les arrivées sur les côtes italiennes. En 2017, elle a validé un accord conclu entre l’Italie et Tripoli pour former et équiper les garde-côtes libyens. Depuis le nombre d’arrivées en Europe via la mer Méditerranée a chuté de manière spectaculaire.
« Les morts s’empilent »

Fin mai, dans une prise de parole publique inédite, dix ONG internationales intervenant en Libye dans des conditions compliquées – dont Danish Refugee Council, International Rescue Committee, Mercy Corps, Première Urgence Internationale (PUI) – ont brisé le silence. Elles ont exhorté l’UE et ses Etats membres à « revoir en urgence » leurs politiques migratoires qui nourrissent selon elles un « système de criminalisation », soulignant que les migrants, « y compris les femmes et les enfants, sont sujets à des détentions arbitraires et illimitées » en Libye dans des conditions « abominables ».

« Arrêtez de renvoyer les migrants en Libye  ! La situation est instable, elle n’est pas sous contrôle ; ils n’y sont en aucun cas protégés ni par un cadre législatif ni pour les raisons sécuritaires que l’on connaît », a réagi ce mercredi à l’AFP Benjamin Gaudin, chef de mission de l’ONG PUI en Libye. Cette ONG intervient dans six centres de détention dans lesquels elle est une des seules organisations à prodiguer des soins de santé.

La « catastrophe ne se situe pas seulement en Méditerranée mais également sur le sol libyen ; quand ces migrants parviennent jusqu’aux côtes libyennes, ils ont déjà vécu l’enfer », a-t-il témoigné récemment auprès de l’AFP, dans une rare interview à un média. Dans certains de ces centres officiels, « les conditions sont terribles », estime M. Gaudin. « Les migrants vivent parfois entassés les uns sur les autres, dans des conditions sanitaires terribles avec de gros problèmes d’accès à l’eau – parfois il n’y a pas d’eau potable du tout. Ils ne reçoivent pas de nourriture en quantité suffisante ; dans certains centres, il n’y a absolument rien pour les protéger du froid ou de la chaleur. Certains n’ont pas de cours extérieures, les migrants n’y voient jamais la lumière du jour », décrit-il.
Human Rights Watch, qui a eu accès à plusieurs centres de détention en 2018 et à une centaine de migrants, va plus loin dans un rapport de 2019 – qui accumule les témoignages de « traitements cruels et dégradants » : l’organisation accuse la « coopération de l’UE avec la Libye sur les migrations de contribuer à un cycle d’abus extrêmes ».

« Les morts s’empilent dans les centres de détention libyens – emportés par une épidémie de tuberculose à Zintan, victimes d’un bombardement à Tajoura. La présence d’une poignée d’acteurs humanitaires sur place ne saurait assurer des conditions acceptables dans ces centres », a déploré M. Raickman de MSF. « Les personnes qui y sont détenues, majoritairement des réfugiés, continuent de mourir de maladies, de faim, sont victimes de violences en tout genre, de viols, soumises à l’arbitraire des milices. Elles se retrouvent prises au piège des combats en cours », a-t-il dénoncé.

Signe d’une situation considérée comme de plus en plus critique, la Commissaire aux droits de l’Homme du Conseil de l’Europe a exhorté le 18 juin les pays européens à suspendre leur coopération avec les gardes-côtes libyens, estimant que les personnes récupérées « sont systématiquement placées en détention et en conséquence soumises à la torture, à des violences sexuelles, à des extorsions ». L’ONU elle même a dénoncé le 7 juin des conditions « épouvantables » dans ces centres. « Environ 22 personnes sont décédées des suites de la tuberculose et d’autres maladies dans le centre de détention de Zintan depuis septembre », a dénoncé Rupert Colville, un porte-parole du Haut-Commissariat de l’ONU aux droits de l’Homme.

MSF, qui a démarré récemment des activités médicales dans les centres de Zintan et Gharyan, a décrit une « catastrophe sanitaire », soulignant que les personnes enfermées dans ces deux centres « viennent principalement d’Érythrée et de Somalie et ont survécu à des expériences terrifiantes » durant leur exil. Or, selon les ONG et le HCR, la très grande majorité des milliers de personnes détenues dans les centres sont des réfugiés, qui pourraient avoir droit à ce statut et à un accueil dans un pays développé, mais ne peuvent le faire auprès de l’Etat libyen. Ils le font auprès du HCR en Libye, dans des conditions très difficiles.
« Enfermés depuis un an »

« Les évacuations hors de Libye vers des pays tiers ou pays de transit sont aujourd’hui extrêmement limitées, notamment parce qu’il manque des places d’accueil dans des pays sûrs qui pourraient accorder l’asile », relève M. Raickman. « Il y a un fort sentiment de désespoir face à cette impasse ; dans des centres où nous intervenons dans la région de Misrata et Khoms, des gens sont enfermés depuis un an. » Interrogée par l’AFP, la Commission européenne défend son bilan et son « engagement » financier sur cette question, soulignant avoir « mobilisé » depuis 2014 pas moins de 338 millions d’euros dans des programmes liés à la migration en Libye.

« Nous sommes extrêmement préoccupés par la détérioration de la situation sur le terrain », a récemment déclaré à l’AFP une porte-parole de la Commission européenne, Natasha Bertaud. « Des critiques ont été formulées sur notre engagement avec la Libye, nous en sommes conscients et nous échangeons régulièrement avec les ONG sur ce sujet », a-t-elle ajouté. « Mais si nous ne nous étions pas engagés avec l’OIM, le HCR et l’Union africaine, nous n’aurions jamais eu cet impact : ces 16 derniers mois, nous avons pu sortir 38.000 personnes hors de ces terribles centres de détention et hors de Libye, et les raccompagner chez eux avec des programmes de retour volontaire, tout cela financé par l’Union européenne », a-t-elle affirmé. « Parmi les personnes qui ont besoin de protection – originaires d’Érythrée ou du Soudan par exemple – nous avons récemment évacué environ 2.700 personnes de Libye vers le Niger (…) et organisé la réinstallation réussie dans l’UE de 1.400 personnes ayant eu besoin de protection internationale », plaide-t-elle.

La porte-parole rappelle que la Commission a « à maintes reprises ces derniers mois exhorté ses États membres à trouver une solution sur des zones de désembarquement, ce qui mettrait fin à ce qui passe actuellement : à chaque fois qu’un bateau d’ONG secoure des gens et qu’il y a une opposition sur le sujet entre Malte et l’Italie, c’est la Commission qui doit appeler près de 28 capitales européennes pour trouver des lieux pour ces personnes puissent débarquer : ce n’est pas viable ! ».

Pour le porte-parole de la marine libyenne, le général Ayoub Kacem, interrogé par l’AFP, ce sont « les pays européens (qui) sabotent toute solution durable à l’immigration en Méditerranée, parce qu’ils n’acceptent pas d’accueillir une partie des migrants et se sentent non concernés ». Il appelle les Européens à « plus de sérieux » et à unifier leurs positions. « Les États européens ont une scandaleuse responsabilité dans toutes ces morts et ces souffrances », dénonce M. Raickman. « Ce qu’il faut, ce sont des actes : des évacuations d’urgence des réfugiés et migrants coincés dans des conditions extrêmement dangereuses en Libye ».

▻https://www.charentelibre.fr/2019/07/03/affames-tortures-disparus-l-impitoyable-piege-referme-sur-les-migrants

« Mourir en mer ou sous les bombes : seule alternative pour les milliers de personnes migrantes prises au piège de l’enfer libyen ? »

Le soir du 2 juillet, une attaque aérienne a été signalée sur le camp de détention pour migrant·e·s de #Tadjourah dans la banlieue est de la capitale libyenne. Deux jours après, le bilan s’est alourdi et fait état d’au moins 66 personnes tuées et plus de 80 blessées [1]. A une trentaine de kilomètres plus au sud de Tripoli, plusieurs migrant·e·s avaient déjà trouvé la mort fin avril dans l’attaque du camp de Qasr Bin Gashir par des groupes armés.

Alors que les conflits font rage autour de Tripoli entre le Gouvernement d’union nationale (GNA) reconnu par l’ONU et les forces du maréchal Haftar, des milliers de personnes migrantes enfermées dans les geôles libyennes se retrouvent en première ligne : lorsqu’elles ne sont pas abandonnées à leur sort par leurs gardien·ne·s à l’approche des forces ennemies ou forcées de combattre auprès d’un camp ou de l’autre, elles sont régulièrement prises pour cibles par les combattant·e·s.

Dans un pays où les migrant·e·s sont depuis longtemps vu·e·s comme une monnaie d’échange entre milices, et, depuis l’époque de Kadhafi, comme un levier diplomatique notamment dans le cadre de divers marchandages migratoires avec les Etats de l’Union européenne [2], les personnes migrantes constituent de fait l’un des nerfs de la guerre pour les forces en présence, bien au-delà des frontières libyennes.

Au lendemain des bombardements du camp de Tadjourah, pendant que le GNA accusait Haftar et que les forces d’Haftar criaient au complot, les dirigeant·e·s des pays européens ont pris le parti de faire mine d’assister impuissant·e·s à ce spectacle tragique depuis l’autre bord de la Méditerranée, les un·e·s déplorant les victimes et condamnant les attaques, les autres appelant à une enquête internationale pour déterminer les coupables.

Contre ces discours teintés d’hypocrisie, il convient de rappeler l’immense responsabilité de l’Union européenne et de ses États membres dans la situation désastreuse dans laquelle les personnes migrantes se trouvent sur le sol libyen. Lorsqu’à l’occasion de ces attaques, l’Union européenne se félicite de son rôle dans la protection des personnes migrantes en Libye et affirme la nécessité de poursuivre ses efforts [3], ne faut-il pas tout d’abord se demander si celle-ci fait autre chose qu’entériner un système de détention cruel en finançant deux organisations internationales, le HCR et l’OIM, qui accèdent pour partie à ces camps où les pires violations de droits sont commises ?

Au-delà de son soutien implicite à ce système d’enfermement à grande échelle, l’UE n’a cessé de multiplier les stratégies pour que les personnes migrantes, tentant de fuir la Libye et ses centres de détention aux conditions inhumaines, y soient immédiatement et systématiquement renvoyées, entre le renforcement constant des capacités des garde-côtes libyens et l’organisation d’un vide humanitaire en Méditerranée par la criminalisation des ONG de secours en mer [4].

A la date du 20 juin 2019, le HCR comptait plus de 3 000 personnes interceptées par les garde-côtes libyens depuis le début de l’année 2019, pour à peine plus de 2000 personnes arrivées en Italie [5]. Pour ces personnes interceptées et reconduites en Libye, les perspectives sont bien sombres : remises aux mains des milices, seules échapperont à la détention les heureuses élues qui sont évacuées au Niger dans l’attente d’une réinstallation hypothétique par le HCR, ou celles qui, après de fortes pressions et souvent en désespoir de cause, acceptent l’assistance au retour « volontaire » proposée par l’OIM.

L’Union européenne a beau jeu de crier au scandale. La détention massive de migrant·e·s et la violation de leurs droits dans un pays en pleine guerre civile ne relèvent ni de la tragédie ni de la fatalité : ce sont les conséquences directes des politiques d’externalisation et de marchandages migratoires cyniques orchestrées par l’Union et ses États membres depuis de nombreuses années. Il est temps que cesse la guerre aux personnes migrantes et que la liberté de circulation soit assurée pour toutes et tous.

►http://www.migreurop.org/article2931.html
aussi signalé par @vanderling
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/791482

Migrants say militias in Tripoli conscripted them to clean arms

Migrants who survived the deadly airstrike on a detention center in western Libya say they had been conscripted by a local militia to work in an adjacent weapons workshop. The detention centers are under armed groups affiliated with the Fayez al-Sarraj government in Tripoli.

Two migrants told The Associated Press on Thursday that for months they were sent day and night to a workshop inside the Tajoura detention center, which housed hundreds of African migrants.

A young migrant who has been held for nearly two years at Tajoura says “we clean the anti-aircraft guns. I saw a large amount of rockets and missiles too.”

The migrants spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.

▻http://www.addresslibya.com/en/archives/47932

Libia, bombe sul campo profughi: «Migranti usati come scudi umani»

Quest’estate il campo profughi di #Tajura in Libia è stato bombardato. Gaetano Pecoraro ci racconta cosa volevano colpire veramente quelle bombe

▻https://www.iene.mediaset.it/video/libia-bombe-campo-profughi-migranti_531023.shtml

#boucliers_humains

Statement by the Post-3Tajoura Working Group on the Three-Month Mark of the Tajoura Detention Centre Airstrike

On behalf of the Post-Tajoura Working Group, the European Union Delegation to Libya issues a statement to mark the passing of three months since the airstrike on the Tajoura Detention Centre. Today is the occasion to remind the Libyan government of the urgency of the situation of detained refugees and migrants in and around Tripoli.

https://eeas.europa.eu/sites/eeas/files/styles/eeas_full_width/public/2019/10/07/statement_ptwg.jpg?itok=QWASXqBl#.jpg

▻https://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/libya/68248/statement-post-tajoura-working-group-three-month-mark-tajoura-detention-

Statement by the Spokesperson on the situation in the #Tajoura detention centre

Statement by the Spokesperson on the situation in the Tajoura detention centre.

The release of the detainees remaining in the Tajoura detention centre, hit by a deadly attack on 2 July, is a positive step by the Libyan authorities. All refugees and migrants have to be released from detention and provided with all the necessary assistance. In this context, we have supported the creation of the Gathering and Departure Facility (GDF) in Tripoli and other safe places in order to improve the protection of those in need and to provide humane alternatives to the current detention system.

We will continue to work with International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and UNHCR (the UN Refugee Agency) in the context of the African Union-European Union-United Nations Task Force to support and protect refugees and migrants in Libya. We call on all parties to accelerate humanitarian evacuation and resettlement from Libya to third countries. In particular, we are supporting UNHCR’s work to resettle the most vulnerable refugees with durable solutions outside Libya, with around 4,000 individuals having been evacuated so far. We are also working closely with the IOM and the African Union and its Member States to continue the Assisted Voluntary Returns, thereby adding to the more than 45,000 migrants returned to their countries of origin so far.

The European Union is strongly committed to fighting traffickers and smugglers and to strengthening the capacity of the Libyan Coast Guard to save lives at sea. Equally, we recall the need to put in place mechanisms that guarantee the safety and dignity of those rescued by the Libyan Coast Guard, notably by ending arbitrary detention and allowing the UN agencies to carry out screening and registration and to provide direct emergency assistance and protection. Through our continuous financial support and our joined political advocacy towards the Libyan authorities, the UNHCR and IOM are now able to better monitor the situation in the disembarkation points and have regular access to most of the official detention centres.

Libya’s current system of detaining migrants has to end and migration needs to be managed in full compliance with international standards, including when it comes to human rights. The European Union stands ready to help the Libyan authorities to develop solutions to create safe and dignified alternatives to detention in full compliance with the international humanitarian standards and in respect of human rights.

▻https://eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/headquarters-homepage/65266/statement-spokesperson-situation-tajoura-detention-centre_en

05.11.2019

About 45 women, 16 children and some men, for a total of approximately 80 refugees, were taken out of #TariqalSikka detention centre by the Libyan police and taken to the #UNHCR offices in #Gurji, Tripoli, yesterday. UNHCR told them there is nothing they can do to help them so...
they are now homeless in Tripoli, destitute, starving, at risk of being shot, bombed, kidnapped, tortured, raped, sold or detained again in an even worst detention centre. Forcing African refugees out of detention centres and leaving them homeless in Tripoli is not a solution...
It is almost a death sentence in today’s Libya. UNHCR doesn’t have capacity to offer any help or protection to homeless refugees released from detention. These women & children have now lost priority for evacuation after years waiting in detention, suffering rape, torture, hunger...

▻https://twitter.com/GiuliaRastajuly/status/1191777843644174336
#SDF #sans-abri

Je rebondis sur l’image
Ces enfances qu’on (dés)arme
►https://blog.mondediplo.net/2011-08-05-Ces-enfances-qu-on-des-arme
Pas encore rejoint ses petits frères sur visionscarto et pas actualisé... pff, ça date de 2011 ! J’aborderai peut-être les choses autrement maintenant...

Une certaine idée de la justice

Ses enquêtes, dignes des meilleurs romans d’espionnage ont fait la une de la presse mondiale. De la plus grande saisie d’héroïne jamais réalisée en Suisse aux prisons secrètes de la CIA, du trafic d’organes au Kosovo à la situation des droits de l’homme en Tchétchénie, Dick Marty s’est engagé successivement dans les trois pouvoirs de l’État. Ce livre n’est pas seulement le récit inédit de ces investigations souvent périlleuses, mais aussi une réflexion critique sur des sujets politiques controversés.

http://www.editionsfavre.com/books/978-2-8289-1736-4.jpg

#livre #Tchétchénie #drogue #Kosovo

Dick Marty, un cri pour la justice

https://i.imgur.com/74gxQ1G.png

Procureur, politicien, enquêteur spécial, le Tessinois Dick Marty est une figure internationale connue pour sa droiture et perspicacité. Infatigable, il a mené l’enquête sur les #prisons_secrètes que la #CIA avait créées en Europe après le 11 septembre pour les terroristes présumés. La torture y était largement pratiquée avec la bénédiction de Washington. Portrait d’un homme à qui rien ne fait peur.

▻https://www.rts.ch/play/tv/doc-a-la-une/video/dick-marty-un-cri-pour-la-justice?urn=urn:rts:video:10725798&id=10725798

#rendition_flights

Selected CIA Aircraft Routes and Rendition Flights 2001-2006

https://backspace.com/notes/images/cia_map_full.jpg

The image is a map of selected CIA aircraft routes between 2001 and 2006, some of which transported prisoners to foreign countries to be interrogated and tortured.

I worked with artist and geographer #Trevor_Paglen who provided the data. Trevor spent several years tracking down the flight information, and has a book out on his investigations, Torture Taxi: On the Trail of the CIA’s Rendition Flights (►https://www.mhpbooks.com/books/torture-taxi). See this interview with him (▻https://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/15/1342250) on Democracy Now! with co-author, journalist A.C. Thompson.

The map was also published in An Atlas of Radical Cartography (►http://www.an-atlas.com), Domus magazine as was displayed at MoMA PS1 and as a public billboard in Los Angeles in September 2006 as part of a series of public art installations about the war. Clockshop, a public arts organization in Los Angeles, funded the display.

▻https://backspace.com/is/in/the/house/work/pg/cia_flights.html

Torture Taxi. On the Trail of the CIA’s Rendition Flights

It’s no longer a secret: Since 9/11, the CIA has quietly kidnapped more than a hundred people and detained them at prisons throughout the world. It is called “extraordinary rendition,” and it is part of the largest U.S. clandestine operation since the end of the Cold War.

Some detainees have been taken to Egypt and Morocco to be tortured and interrogated. Others have been transported to secret CIA-run facilities in Eastern Europe and Afghanistan, where they, too, have been tortured. Many of the kidnapped detainees have ended up at the U.S. detention camp at Guantánamo, but others have been disappeared entirely.

In this first book to systematically investigate extraordinary rendition, an award-winning investigative journalist and a “military geographer” explore the CIA program in a series of journeys that takes them around the world. They travel to suburban Massachusetts to profile a CIA front company that supplies the agency with airplanes; to Smithfield, North Carolina, to meet pilots who fly CIA aircraft; to the San Francisco suburbs to study with a “planespotter” who tracks the CIA’s movements; and to Afghanistan, where the authors visit the notorious “Salt Pit” prison and meet released Afghan detainees.

They find that nearly five years after 9/11, the kidnappings have not stopped. On the contrary, the rendition program has been formalized, colluding with the military when necessary, and constantly changing its cover to remain hidden from sight.

https://cdn2.mhpbooks.com/2011/10/Torture-Taxi-229x300.jpg

The Council of Europe’s investigation into illegal transfers and secret detentions in Europe: a chronology

The European Court of Human Rights has so far delivered three judgments concerning CIA rendition and secret detention operations in Council of Europe member states (one against “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” and two against Poland), and individual applications are currently pending against other states (Italy, Lithuania and Romania), many drawing on Senator Dick Marty’s investigations. The Court has published a thematic fact-sheet on cases involving secret detentions.

22 April 2015: In remarks to German news magazine Der Spiegel, former Romanian President Ion Iliascu admits to the existence of a secret CIA “site” in Romania. PACE President Anne Brasseur responds: “it is now up to the Romanian prosecutorial authorities to conduct a serious investigation into the facts, and to hold to account the perpetrators of any crimes committed in this context.”

11-12 March 2015: The deputies of the Council of Europe’s ministerial body - which oversees the execution of Court judgments - say they are concerned Mr Al Nashiri and Mr Abu Zubaydah, now interned at Guantanamo Bay, could face “flagrant denials of justice” if tried by Military Commission and ask the Polish authorities to urgently seek assurances from the US that they will not be tried using torture evidence or subjected to the death penalty. Poland swiftly does so.

24 July 2014: The European Court of Human Rights delivers landmark judgments in the Abu Zubaydah and Al Nashiri cases, finding that Poland was complicit in “CIA rendition, secret detention and interrogation operations on its territory” and that, by enabling the CIA to detain the applicants, it was exposing them to a serious risk of torture. After an appeal by the government is turned down on 16 February 2015, the rulings became final.

3 December 2013: The European Court of Human Rights holds a joint Chamber hearing in the Abu Zubaydah and Al Nashiri cases against Poland, listening to submissions from all parties, and posts the video online. It also holds a confidential hearing with the parties the day before the public hearing.
10 October 2013: The European Parliament, in a fresh resolution, deeply deplores the failures to respond to its earlier demands, and renews the call for proper investigations in Lithuania, Romania and Poland. It suggests the “climate of impunity” surrounding the CIA’s rendition programme may have enabled the mass surveillance by the NSA, recently revealed.

9 July 2013: In addition to his case against Lithuania, Mr Zubaydah also brings a case before the Strasbourg Court against Poland, similar to the case already brought by Mr Al Nashiri.

14 December 2012: The Court communicates to the Lithuanian Government the case of Abu Zubaydah v. Lithuania. Mr Zubaydah says he was illegally held and ill-treated in a secret prison in Lithuania run by the CIA.

13 December 2012: The European Court of Human Rights issues its first judgment in a case involving secret prisons on European soil when its Grand Chamber finds “The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” in violation of the Convention for its part in the torture and rendition of German car-salesman Khaled El-Masri. It is greeted as a landmark judgment.

18 September 2012: The Strasbourg Court communicates to the Romanian Government the case of Al Nashiri v. Romania. Mr Al Nashiri – who also brought the earlier case against Poland – alleges Romania knowingly and intentionally enabled the CIA to detain him and has refused to date to properly acknowledge or investigate any wrongdoing.

11 September 2012: PACE President Jean-Claude Mignon welcomes the latest resolution of the European Parliament, adopted on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, which calls on Lithuania, Poland and Romania to open or resume independent investigations into allegations that they colluded with the CIA to hold and interrogate terrorism suspects in secret prisons. National investigations so far have been “painfully inadequate”, he points out, but the process of accountability continues.

10 July 2012: The European Court of Human Rights communicates to the Polish Government the case of Al Nashiri v. Poland. Mr Al Nashiri, suspected of terrorist acts and now in Guantanamo, says he was tortured in Poland while in US custody following rendition, and that Poland “knowingly and intentionally” enabled his secret detention.

16 May 2012: The European Court of Human Rights holds its first hearing on a rendition-related case, in the El-Masri case, and posts the video online. This case is heard before the Grand Chamber, an indication of its significance.

8 December 2011: Reacting to reported confirmation of a secret CIA prison in Romania, Dick Marty says: “Five years ago we put forward substantial elements of proof of a secret CIA prison in Romania. There have been years of official denials since then. But the ‘dynamic of truth’ has run its course [...]. Those responsible for the crimes committed – and their cover-up – should now be held to account in a court of law.”

24 November 2011: Reporting on a September 2010 visit to Romania, the Council of Europe’s Anti-Torture Committee (CPT) questions the absence of a judicial inquiry into the allegations of a secret CIA prison in the country. In their response, the Romanian authorities repeat that there is no evidence of this, and that – in the absence of proof – for them the subject is closed.

22 November 2011: The European Court of Human Rights communicates to the Italian Government the case of Nasr and Ghali v. Italy, and asks the parties to answer a number of questions. Egyptian imam Abu Omar alleges he was kidnapped in Rome and transferred to Egypt with Italian involvement, and then detained in secret for several months in inhuman conditions.

6 October 2011: In his last report for PACE, Dick Marty evaluates the various judicial or parliamentary inquiries launched after his reports five years ago named European governments which had hosted CIA secret prisons or colluded in rendition and torture. Overall, he concludes that unjustified resort to the doctrine of “state secrets” is still too often shielding secret services from scrutiny of involvement in human rights violations.

5 September 2011: In two comments marking the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks – addressing, in turn, renditions and secret detentions – Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg echoes Dick Marty’s repeated calls for accountability on the part of European governments.

19 May 2011: Reporting on a June 2010 visit to Lithuania, the Council of Europe’s Anti-Torture Committee (CPT) questions both the promptness and thoroughness of the Lithuanian Prosecutor General’s pre-trial investigation into abuse of office, then under way. In their response, the Lithuanian authorities report that “no objective data concerning the fact of abuse (or another criminal act) were collected during the pre-trial investigation” and therefore no charges will be brought.

28 September 2010: The European Court of Human Rights becomes involved in the first specific case involving rendition and secret prisons when it communicates the case of El-Masri v. “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” to the authorities, and asks the parties to answer a number of questions. Mr El-Masri, apparently mistaken by the CIA for another man of the same name, was kidnapped and interrogated in a Skopje hotel for 23 days before being transferred to US agents.

21 August 2009: Reacting to a news report that Lithuania was the site of a third secret CIA prison in Europe, Dick Marty says his own sources seem to confirm this information, and calls for “a full, independent and credible investigation” into what occurred on the outskirts of Vilnius: “Denial and evasion are no longer credible,” he says.

6 November 2008: Testifying at the Milan trial of CIA and Italian secret service agents accused of kidnapping Abu Omar, Dick Marty says this is one of the few cases involving the CIA’s extraordinary rendition program to come to court. The invocation of ’state secrets’ by the Italian government must not - as in other judicial or parliamentary procedures in the US and Germany - be allowed to block the trial: “Let justice take its course!” he declares.

4 April 2008: In a statement, Dick Marty criticises the Committee of Ministers for its response and accuses European governments of “hypocrisy” for continuing to deny their involvement in secret detentions and illegal renditions, unless forced to do so. “The United States made a choice - which I think was a wrong choice - to fight the war on terror using illegal means, but they at least made it openly and defend it,” he points out.

16 January 2008: In a reply, the Committee of Ministers – representing the 47 Council of Europe governments – says only that it will “carefully consider” the Secretary General’s proposals to control the activities of foreign intelligence services in Europe, noting that they “reached deeply into sensitive areas of national security, law and practice”. To date, it has not yet implemented any of these proposals.

27 June 2007: The plenary Assembly – bringing together over 300 legislators from 47 European countries – backs Mr Marty’s report and urges better oversight of foreign intelligence services operating in Europe. The use of “state secrecy” laws to protect wrongful acts by secret services should be limited, the parliamentarians say.

8 June 2007: Presenting a second report following several months of additional inquiry, Swiss Senator Dick Marty reveals evidence that US “high-value detainees”, including alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, were held in secret CIA prisons in Poland and Romania. Based on extensive, cross-referenced testimony from serving and former intelligence agents, he also alleges a series of partly secret decisions among NATO allies in 2001 which enabled the CIA to carry out illegal activities in Europe.

14 February 2007: In a report, the European Parliament comes to similar conclusions to Mr Marty, saying EU countries “turned a blind eye” to extraordinary renditions across their territory and airspace.

6 September 2006: The Committee of Ministers – representing the 47 governments of the Council of Europe – decides only to “take note” of the Secretary General’s proposals for greater control over the activities of security services operating in Europe, declining any immediate follow-up. The decision comes on the very same day that US President George Bush admits the existence of secret CIA prisons. On the other hand, PACE President René van der Linden reacts by declaring that kidnapping people and torturing them in secret “is what criminals do, not democratic governments”. Such activities will not make citizens safer in the long run, he says. The admission is a vindication of Senator Marty’s work, he adds.

30 June 2006: Council of Europe Secretary General Terry Davis makes concrete proposals to European governments for laws to control the activities of foreign intelligence services in Europe, reviewing state immunity, and making better use of existing controls on over-flights, including requiring landing and search of civil flights engaged in state functions.

27 June 2006: The plenary Assembly debates Mr Marty’s first report and calls for the dismantling of the system of secret prisons, oversight of foreign intelligence services operating in Europe and a common strategy for fighting terrorism which does not undermine human rights.

14 June 2006: Analysing a second round of replies from governments to his inquiry, Council of Europe Secretary General Terry Davis concludes in a supplementary report that laws to protect Europeans against human rights violations by foreign intelligence agents are “the exception rather than the rule”. Confirming his earlier conclusions, he says current controls on civil air traffic are inadequate, while State aircraft in transit are rarely checked.

7 June 2006: Presenting his first report, Dick Marty says he has exposed a global “spider’s web” of illegal US detentions and transfers, and alleges collusion in this system by 14 Council of Europe member states, 7 of whom may have violated the rights of named individuals.

17 March 2006: In an opinion, legal experts from the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission say that, under the European Convention on Human Rights and other international laws, member states should refuse to allow transit of prisoners where there is a risk of torture. If this is suspected, they should search civil planes or refuse overflight to state planes.

1 March 2006: Analysing governments’ replies to a separate inquiry using powers under the European Convention on Human Rights, Council of Europe Secretary General Terry Davis says Europe appears to be “a happy hunting-ground for foreign security services”. Presenting a first report, he says that the rules governing activities of secret services – especially foreign ones – appear inadequate in many member states, and that current air traffic regulations do not safeguard against abuse. Immunity for foreign agents who commit crimes in Europe should not extend to serious human rights violations.

7 November 2005: Following media reports, the Parliamentary Assembly appoints Senator Dick Marty, a Swiss former prosecutor, to conduct a parliamentary inquiry into “alleged secret detentions and unlawful inter-state transfers of detainees involving Council of Europe member states”. PACE President René van der Linden declares: “This issue goes to the very heart of the Council of Europe’s human rights mandate.”

▻https://assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/News/FeaturesManager-View-EN.asp?ID=362

#chronologie

Premier rapport de Dick Marty, 12.06.2006 :
Alleged secret detentions and unlawful inter-state transfers ofdetainees involving Council of Europe member states
▻http://semantic-pace.net/tools/pdf.aspx?doc=aHR0cDovL2Fzc2VtYmx5LmNvZS5pbnQvbncveG1sL1hSZWYvWDJILURX

Deuxième rapport de Dick Marty, 08.06.2007

Dick Marty: ‘high-value detainees’ were held at secret CIA prisons in Poland and Romania

PACE rapporteur Dick Marty (Switzerland, ALDE) today revealed new evidence that US “high-value detainees” were held in secret CIA prisons in Poland and Romania during the period 2002-5 and alleges a series of partly secret decisions among NATO allies in October 2001 which provided the basic framework for illegal CIA activities in Europe.

In an explanatory memorandum made public today, Mr Marty says he has cross-referenced the credible testimonies of over 30 members of intelligence services in the US and Europe with analysis of “data strings” from the international flight planning system.

▻https://pace.coe.int/en/news/1487

c’est l’amertume d’une carriere contrariee. mais il peut toujours aller en Hongrie ou la dictature est possible !

Cisgiordania: Israele demolisce scuole e case palestinesi

L’ultima scuola a cadere nei territori palestinesi della Cisgiordania è stata segnalata il 5 dicembre, ma l’azione di Israele verso edifici considerati illegali prosegue ormai da diverso tempo. A soffrirne sono soprattutto i bambini, per i quali andare a scuola risulta un’impresa sempre più difficile.

Una scuola elementare è stata demolita dalle forze di difesa israeliane (Idf, Israeli defense force). È accaduto la mattina del 5 dicembre nella comunità beduina di As Simiya, vicino alla città di Al Samou, nella zona a sud di Hebron, in Cisgiordania. La notizia è stata riportata dall’agenzia di stampa palestinese Wafa, da quella turca Anadolu e dall’Ufficio delle Nazioni Unite per gli affari umanitari, Ocha, con un alert pubblicato sulla pagina Facebook dell’ente internazionale nei territori occupati.

La scuola, denominata “Al Tahaddi 13”, che in arabo significa “scuola della sfida”, sarebbe stata inaugurata dopo qualche giorno la sua demolizione. Destinato a ospitare una cinquantina di bambini, l’istituto è costato circa 40.000 euro e prevedeva sette “classi mobili” con l’obiettivo di evitare il viaggio quotidiano degli alunni di As Simiya verso la città di Al Samou.

Gli studenti, infatti, sono costretti ad affrontare ogni giorno il lungo cammino verso la scuola, subendo spesso violenze da parte israeliana e dovendo attraversare la principale autostrada della zona.
Le tre aree della Cisgiordania negli accordi di Oslo

La scuola demolita rientrava nel programma del ministero della Pubblica istruzione palestinese per costruire “aule mobili”, ossia allestite in container, per i bambini residenti in comunità, considerate vulnerabili e a rischio, sparse in tutta l’area C della Cisgiordania meridionale.

In seguito agli accordi di Oslo siglati nel 1995 da Israele e dall’Autorità nazionale palestinese (Anp), la Cisgiordania venne suddivisa in tre aree: A, B e C. L’area A ricade sotto il controllo amministrativo e di sicurezza dell’Anp. L’area B è controllata a livello amministrativo dall’Anp, mentre la sicurezza è sotto il comando israeliano. Infine l’area C, nella quale vivono circa 300.000 palestinesi, molti dei quali beduini, è sotto il totale controllo, civile e di sicurezza, dello stato di Israele.

Cisgiordania, scuole e case demolite da Israele

Le scuole palestinesi sono da tempo le prime vittime delle demolizioni autorizzate da Israele. Le forze di difesa, infatti, confiscano e buttano giù regolarmente strutture considerate illegali dal governo perché prive dei necessari permessi di edificazione nell’area C. Per i palestinesi è spesso difficile ottenere queste autorizzazioni. Una difficoltà che spinge molti a traferirsi o a innalzare costruzioni senza i via libera necessari.

Il coordinatore dell’Ocha nel territori palestinesi occupati, Roberto Valent, aveva allertato qualche mese fa sulla difficile situazione di alcuni istituti scolastici palestinesi: almeno 45 a rischio demolizione a causa della mancanza di permessi nel mese di febbraio 2018.

In seguito alla demolizione della scuola di Abu Nuwar, comunità beduina nella parte Est di Gerusalemme, anche il governo palestinese con base a Ramallah aveva sollecitato un’azione internazionale urgente per fermare il comportamento israeliano che vìola il diritto dei bambini palestinesi all’istruzione.

Ad Abu Nuwar vivono su base stagionale quasi 700 palestinesi, l’88 per cento dei quali rifugiati. Una realtà che fa parte delle 46 comunità beduine della Cisgiordania, 18 delle quali nella zona E1 tra la parte Est di Gerusalemme e l’insediamento israeliano di Ma’ale Adumim.
Palestina: occupazione nella West Bank e demolizioni

L’Ocha ha pubblicato a fine novembre l’ultimo report sulle demolizioni ed evacuazioni avvenute in Cisgiordania, nel quale si evidenzia un netto aumento delle demolizioni nel mese di ottobre sia rispetto ai mesi precedenti, sia alla media mensile riscontrata nel 2017. Sarebbero infatti circa 51 le strutture demolite o poste sotto sequestro dalle autorità israeliane nel solo mese di ottobre, con 43 persone costrette a cercare nuove abitazioni.

Undici di queste strutture, situate tra la zona Est di Gerusalemme e l’area C, erano destinate all’assistenza umanitaria. Cinque di queste erano ricoveri donati in risposta a una precedente emergenza abitativa causata dalle demolizioni avvenute bella comunità di Halaweh, a sud di Hebron, in quella che viene chiamata “Firing Zone 918” (Zona di fuoco 918), dichiarata zona militare già negli anni ‘70.

Anche il centro israeliano di informazione per i diritti umani nei territori occupati, B’tselem, denuncia sul proprio sito come migliaia di persone si trovino quotidianamente a dover affrontare un imminente espulsione o demolizione da parte delle autorità israeliane sotto vari pretesti. La situazione, secondo l’ente israeliano, va avanti da decenni e farebbe parte di una più ampia strategia mirata a rendere sempre più miserevoli e difficoltose le condizioni di vita in molte comunità dell’Area C.

Sempre in questa prospettiva, le autorità israeliane proibiscono costruzioni di edifici pubblici o privati in questi territori, negando la possibilità di un collegamento idrico o elettrico. Quando i residenti resistono a queste restrizioni e costruiscono ugualmente, senza permessi, le autorità ordinano costanti demolizioni.
Le zone colpite dall’azione israeliana in Cisgiordania

Le zone più colpite da demolizioni e sfollamenti sono tre: le South Hebron Hills, colline a sud di Hebron, dove si trova, appunto, la comunità di As Simiya e dove vivono circa un migliaio di palestinesi, la metà dei quali minori; l’area di Ma’ale Adumim, detta anche E1, dove vivono circa 1.400 residenti a rischio espulsione a causa del piano israeliano che prevede la creazione di un blocco urbano tra Ma’ale Adumin e Gerusalemme; la Valle del Giordano, nella quale vivono 2.700 palestinesi.

Secondo il report pubblicato dall’Ichad, il Comitato israeliano contro la demolizione delle abitazioni, nel mese di novembre sarebbero almeno 63 le strutture palestinesi demolite dalle forze di sicurezza israeliane: 42 persone sfollate, tra cui 19 minori, per un totale di 687 persone colpite, tra cui 196 bambini, dall’inizio dell’anno.

Molte delle strutture demolite sostenevano l’agricoltura, la pastorizia e il commercio locale. Le demolizioni non sono destinate però solo ai territori occupati e le comunità beduine sono prese di mira anche all’interno di Israele. L’Ichad ricorda infatti che il villaggio beduino palestinese di Al-Aragib, nel deserto del Naqab nel sud di Israele, è stato demolito quest’anno per la 136esima volta. E con l’arrivo dell’inverno la situazione di chi si ritrova da un giorno all’altro senza casa diventa drammatica.

https://www.osservatoriodiritti.it/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/cisgiordania-2.jpg

▻https://www.arch2o.com/360-tour-louvre-abu-dhabi
The Louvre is increasingly a major player on the cultural diplomacy front, with this international outreach finding expression in exhibitions: in Europe, but also in the United States, Japan, Saudi Arabia, China, Korea, Australia, Singapore, Oman, and Canada.

https://www.arch2o.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/360-The-Louvre-Abu-Dhabi.jpg

Petite #vidéo qui date aussi de 2015 :
Inside Libya migrant detention centre

As many as 400 migrants are believed to have drowned in the Mediterranean Sea as their boat capsized off the Libyan coast.

Many of the migrants who try to reach European shores first have to get to Libya.

Once there, many are detained by the local authorities and end up being held for months in often squalid conditions.

Quentin Sommerville reports from one such centre in the Libyan port of #Misrata.

▻http://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-africa-32312776/inside-libya-migrant-detention-centre#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-

HUMAN SUFFERING Inside Libya’s migrant detention centres

For more than a year, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been providing medical care to refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants held inside Tripoli detention centres in conditions that are neither humane nor dignified.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DIpThF9XkAAQBt9.jpg

Reportage. Ecco l’inferno libico: un milone di profughi in trappola

Il buco nero delle prigioni clandestine libiche ha numeri da Terzo Reich: circa 400mila i profughi «contabilizzati» dalle autorità di Tripoli, ma quelli rimasti imprigionati sono molti di più

https://www.avvenire.it/c/2017/PublishingImages/41ff039ffbea47a19ef809356caf1c6f/libiamigr6_56910484.jpg?width=1024#.jpg

▻https://www.avvenire.it/mondo/pagine/libia-inferno-un-milione-profughi-intrappolati

Reportage. Gli orrori libici: fosse comuni per i migranti uccisi in viaggio

Soccorritori avvisati solo per ricomporre le vittime. E l’Ong Moas ferma i salvataggi in mare

▻https://www.avvenire.it/attualita/pagine/quei-cadaveri-nelle-fosse-comuni-libia-lorrore-vicino-a-bengasi

Tribù e centri di detenzione: i nodi dell’Italia in Libia sui migranti

L’imperativo italiano di arginare i flussi di migranti dalla Libia rischia di far commettere a Roma due errori.

http://www.limesonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/libia_capitale_energetico_820.jpg

Migrant reception centres to be set up in Chad and Niger

Reception centres for migrants are to be set up in Chad and Niger in an effort to fight illegal immigration through Libya and across the Mediterranean to Italy.

▻https://www.libyaherald.com/2017/05/22/migrant-reception-centres-to-be-set-up-in-chad-and-niger

Migranti, intesa Italia-Africa

Roma si accorda con Libia, Niger e Ciad per gestire il flusso prima che arrivi sulle coste del Mediterraneo

▻http://www.rsi.ch/news/mondo/Migranti-intesa-Italia-Africa-9151882.html
#it_has_begun

Italy inks deal with Libya neighbours to block migrants

Italy has signed a deal with Libya, Chad and Niger to try to stem the flow of migrants across the Mediterranean by beefing up border controls and creating new reception centres in the African nations.

►http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-4530854/Italy-inks-deal-Libya-neighbours-block-migrants.html

Parola d’ordine esternalizzare: soldi europei agli Stati africani per fermare il flusso dei migranti

Il ministro degli Interni del Niger: «Chiediamo all’Ue infrastrutture militari». Ma il Mali non firma le riammissioni: «Le rimesse ci hanno portato 800 milioni di dollari nel 2016»

▻http://www.lastampa.it/2017/05/24/esteri/speciali/divertedaid/parola-dordine-esternalizzare-soldi-europei-agli-stati-africani-per-fermare-il-flusso-dei-migranti-VKqfQ42Nr9TimSleQzT7XL/pagina.html?platform=hootsuite

Elementi per un esposto nei confronti del governo italiano a seguito dell’applicazione del Memorandum d’intesa sottoscritto con il governo di Tripoli il 2 febbraio 2017
▻http://www.a-dif.org/2017/06/14/elementi-per-un-esposto-nei-confronti-del-governo-italiano-a-seguito-dellappl
#2_février_2017 #2017

Adesso il governo punta sulla missione in Libia per dimezzare gli sbarchi

Oggi passaggio in Parlamento. Le navi italiane potrebbero vigilare sui volontari

▻http://www.lastampa.it/2017/08/01/esteri/adesso-il-governo-punta-sulla-missione-in-libia-per-dimezzare-gli-sbarchi-ZOc8QtIX6otpRhsea3DD5H/pagina.html

Et comme dit bien Fulvio Vassallo:

«Dimezzare gli sbarchi e raddoppiare i morti.»

Rifugiati, i tanti dubbi sull’accordo con la Libia

Alla vigilia della sospensione dell’attività politica per le vacanze estive, arriva quasi a sorpresa e in maniera confusa la notizia di una specie di accordo con la Libia per l’invio di navi da guerra: a sostegno, si dice, della marina libica in lotta con i trafficanti di esseri umani.

▻http://www.aggiornamentisociali.it/articoli/rifugiati-i-tanti-dubbi-sull-accordo-con-la-libia

Vu sur twitter le 02.08.2017 :

http://i.imgur.com/Th8nPBw.png http://i.imgur.com/rDM9WUQ.png

Deploying Italian warships to police Libyan waters will expose refugees to horrific abuse

Proposals to send warships to police Libyan territorial waters are a shameful attempt by the Italian authorities to circumvent their duty to rescue refugees and migrants at sea and to offer protection to those who need it, said Amnesty International, ahead of a vote in the Italian parliament tomorrow.

▻https://www.amnestyusa.org/press-releases/deploying-italian-warships-to-police-libyan-waters-will-expose-refugees-

Italy begins naval mission to help Libya curb migrant flows

ROME (Reuters) - Italy began a limited naval mission on Wednesday to help Libya’s coastguard curb migrant flows, which have become a source of political friction before national elections expected early next year.

▻http://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-italy-libya-idUSKBN1AI1JC

Missione navale: Italia pronta a destinare rifugiati e migranti verso orribili violenze

Dopo il voto del parlamento italiano in favore dell’invio di navi da guerra nelle acque libiche per assistere la Guardia costiera della Libia a intercettare migranti e rifugiati e a riportarli a terra, la vicedirettrice di Amnesty International per l’Europa Gauri Van Gulik ha rilasciato questa dichiarazione:

▻https://www.amnesty.it/missione-navale-italia-pronta-destinare-rifugiati-migranti-verso-orribili-vi

Italy : Navy Support for Libya May Endanger Migrants

Help for Libyan Coast Guard Risks Complicity in Abuse

▻https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/08/02/italy-navy-support-libya-may-endanger-migrants

"L’aiuto dell’Italia alla Guardia costiera libica rischia di tradursi in complicità negli abusi sui migranti"

L’annuncio del supporto operativo delle navi della Marina Militare italiana al governo di Tripoli, nell’intercettazione di barconi di migranti in acque libiche, è stata criticata da Human Rights Watch: «Potrebbe coinvolgere l’Italia in violazioni dei diritti umani a danno dei migranti successivamente detenuti in Libia».

▻http://www.huffingtonpost.it/2017/08/02/l-aiuto-dellitalia-alla-guardia-costiera-libica-rischia-di-tra_a_2306

Libia, la Guardia Costiera viene pagata con i soldi della Cooperazione

Le frontiere esterne dell’Unione Europea si blindano usando fondi destinati allo sviluppo. Dalla polizia del Niger, alle milizie che presidiano i confini in Sudan fino ai militari che controllano le coste del Paese nord africano. La missione ONU per la Libia (Unsmil) in un rapporto parla delle carceri libiche come luoghi di estorsioni e violenze

►http://www.repubblica.it/solidarieta/cooperazione/2017/07/31/news/libia_la_guardia_costiera_viene_pagata_con_i_soldi_della_cooperazione-172

#aide_au_développement

Italia: il sostegno della Marina Militare alla Libia può mettere in pericolo i migranti

Human Rights Watch: l’aiuto alla Guardia costiera libica rischia di tradursi in complicità negli abusi

▻http://www.meltingpot.org/Italia-il-sostegno-della-Marina-Militare-alla-Libia-puo.html

Italy Has a Controversial New Plan to Stop Migrants Crossing the Mediterranean Sea

The Italian government initially hoped to send six ships to Libya’s territorial waters, but plans had to be scaled down following popular protests in Tripoli, Reuters reports. Libyans have reportedly been posting images of Omar al-Mukhtar, a national hero who battled Italian rule in the early 1900s, on social media in response to the Italian presence— reflecting the widespread unease over a former colonial power intervening on domestic affairs. Pinotti said that Italy had no intention of creating a blockade on Libya’s coast.

▻http://time.com/4885415/italy-naval-mission-migrant-smuggling

LIBIA : IL SUCCESSO DEMOCRATICO

C’è solo una cosa che avete perso: la dignità umana.
Credo l’abbiate fatto consapevolmente, perché liberarvi della fatica di difendere la dignità umana era il peso più affrontabile per risolvere questo maledetto problema degli sbarchi.
Creare in pubblico il reato umanitario, confermare e rafforzare le derive più xenofobe e pericolose della nostra società, abbandonare migliaia di persone al loro immobile destino di ingiustizia e povertà, non disturbare la chiusura dell’Europa ricca e respingente, consolidare poteri forti e corrotti in paesi di origine e di transito: questo avete fatto e con questo state vincendo.
Complimenti.
Abbiate almeno il coraggio di non chiamarvi più nemmeno democratici.

▻http://andreasegre.blogspot.ch/2017/08/libia-il-successo-democratico.html
#Andrea_Segre

Avec un ps sur la Suisse :

P.P.S. scrivo tutto ciò da Locarno (Svizzera), dove presenteremo domani il nuovo doc IBI. E non posso non guardarmi intorno. Questo è il cuore dell’Europa ricca che proteggendosi ha ottenuto ciò che le interessava: crescita interna altissima sulle spalle di un mondo esterno da sfruttare e tenere fuori (i corpi ovviamente, i soldi no, se vogliono quelli entrano subito e senza controlli). Il PIL procapite medio da queste parti è circa 80mila euro l’anno. Nei paesi da cui scappano gli invasori raggiunge al massimo 1000 euro. Ma qui non ci arrivano, perché anche qui, soprattutto qui, hanno vinto. Bravi!

Missione navale in Libia: così si nega il diritto d’asilo

In passato l’Italia ha dato un esempio di grande civiltà con le operazioni di salvataggio in mare. Ora invece mandiamo le navi militari a fermare i migranti in Libia, con una missione che solleva non poche perplessità sotto il profilo dei diritti umani.

▻http://www.lavoce.info/archives/48207/missione-navale-libia-cosi-si-nega-diritto-dasilo

Fermare i migranti? Addestrare i libici non funziona

La notte del 23 maggio 2017 il capitano della Iuventa, la nave dell’Ong tedesca Jugend Rettet, denuncia una nuova aggressione in mare da parte di un motoscafo libico, il cui equipaggio avrebbe sparato verso alcune imbarcazioni sovraccariche di profughi, per poi riportare due delle imbarcazioni verso la Libia. Era la Guardia Costiera libica? L’Italia come la sta addestrando, e a che scopo? E quante Guardie Costiere ci sono in Libia in realtà? Francesco Floris ha ricostruito nei dettagli la storia dell’addestramento italiano dei libici e i suoi precedenti.

►https://openmigration.org/analisi/fermare-i-migranti-addestrare-i-libici-non-funziona

Libia, arrivano meno migranti che così finiscono nel lager di #Sabha

Lo dicono i numeri delle ultime settimane: si assiste ad una drastica riduzione del flusso migratorio dalla Libia verso l’Italia. E’ l’effetto dell’accordo italo-libico, sostenuto dall’Unione Europea. Decine di migliaia di migranti subsahariani bloccati. Lo raccontano le duemila testimonianze raccolte da Medici per i Diritti Umani (Medu)

▻http://www.repubblica.it/solidarieta/immigrazione/2017/08/08/news/libia-172648143/?ref=search

Libia, la prima missione degli italiani

A bordo della nave #Tremiti pronta a salpare da Tripoli con i libici che ci ringraziano

▻http://www.repubblica.it/esteri/2017/08/11/news/libia_la_prima_missione_degli_italiani-172814788

Libyan Coast Guard Faces Allegations of Corruption

At the same time, conflict and corruption on the ground have called into question the EU’s plans to train the Libyan Coast Guard and return migrants to Libyan shores. In February, Libya’s UN-backed government in Tripoli agreed to direct its coast guard to return migrants to shore in exchange for training assistance and financial aid. On Monday, Libyan Prime Minister Fayez Serraj negotiated for an additional EU assistance package of $860 million in military equipment, including ships, vehicles, helicopters and communications gear.

▻http://www.maritime-executive.com/article/libyan-coast-guard-faces-allegations-of-corruption
#gardes-côtes #frontières #Libye #gardes-côtes_libyens #corruption #Libye

Libya’s coast guard abuses migrants despite EU funding and training

ZAWIYAH, Libya - The video showed a small rubber dinghy crowded with terrified migrants. Next to it, a uniformed man in a Libyan coast guard boat was yelling and wielding a bullwhip.

►https://seenthis.net/fran%C3%A7ais/article/moteur-de-recherche

L’Italie salue le contrôle mis en place par la Libye face aux migrants

Le gouvernement italien s’est félicité dimanche de l’intensification par Tripoli du contrôle des eaux libyennes, saluant « un rééquilibrage en cours en Méditerranée » pour réduire les départs de migrants.

▻http://www.rts.ch/info/monde/8839520-l-italie-se-rejouit-du-controle-mis-en-place-par-la-libye-face-aux-migra