• L’Italia cede alla Libia altre 14 navi veloci per intercettare le persone. Il ruolo di Invitalia

    La commessa è stata aggiudicata definitivamente per 6,65 milioni di euro. A curare la gara è stata l’agenzia del ministero dell’Economia che dovrebbe in realtà occuparsi di “attrazione degli investimenti e sviluppo d’impresa”. Intanto 40 Ong danno appuntamento a Roma il 26 ottobre per opporsi al rinnovo dell’accordo con Tripoli

    L’Italia fornirà altre 14 imbarcazioni alle milizie libiche per intercettare e respingere le persone in fuga nel Mediterraneo. La commessa è stata aggiudicata definitivamente nella primavera di quest’anno per 6,65 milioni di euro nell’ambito di una procedura curata da Invitalia, l’agenzia nazionale di proprietà del ministero dell’Economia che sulla carta dovrebbe occuparsi dell’”attrazione degli investimenti e lo sviluppo d’impresa” e che invece dall’agosto 2019 ha stipulato una convenzione con il ministero dell’Interno per garantire “supporto” tecnico anche sul fronte libico. La copertura finanziaria dei nuovi “battelli” è garantita, così come tante altre, dalla “prima fase” del progetto “Support to integrated Border and migration management in Libya” (Sibmmil) datato dicembre 2017, cofinanziato dall’Unione europea, implementato dal Viminale e inserito nel quadro del Fondo fiduciario per l’Africa (Eutf).

    Si tratta in questa occasione di 14 mezzi “pneumatici con carena rigida in vetroresina” da 12 metri -come si legge nel capitolato di gara-, in grado di andare a una velocità di crociera di almeno 30 nodi, con un’autonomia di 200 miglia nautiche, omologati al trasporto di 12 persone e destinati a “svolgere i compiti istituzionali delle autorità libiche” (è la seconda tranche di una procedura attivata oltre tre anni fa). Quali non si poteva specificarlo. Anche sull’identità dei beneficiari libici c’è scarsa chiarezza da parte di Invitalia, il cui amministratore delegato è Bernardo Mattarella. Negli atti non si fa riferimento infatti né all’Amministrazione generale per la sicurezza costiera (Gacs) né alla Direzione per la lotta all’immigrazione illegale (Dcim), che opera sotto il ministero dell’Interno libico, quanto a una generica “polizia libica”.

    Chi si è assicurato la commessa, con un ribasso del 5% sulla base d’asta, è stata la società B-Shiver Srl con sede a Roma. B-Shiver è la ragione sociale del marchio Novamarine, nato a Olbia nel 1983 e poi acquisito negli anni dal gruppo Sno. “È uno dei must a livello mondiale perché ha fatto una rivoluzione nel campo dei gommoni, con il binomio carena vetroresina e tubolare”, spiega in un video aziendale l’amministratore delegato Francesco Pirro.

    B-Shiver non si occupa soltanto della costruzione dei 14 mezzi veloci ma è incaricata anche di “erogare un corso di familiarizzazione sulla conduzione dei battelli a favore del personale libico”: 30 ore distribuite su cinque giorni.
    Nell’ultima versione del capitolato sembrerebbe sparita la possibilità di predisporre in ogni cabina di pilotaggio dei “gavoni metallici idonei alla custodia di armi”, come invece aveva ipotizzato il Centro nautico della polizia di Stato nelle prime fasi della procedura di gara.

    Le forniture italiane alla Libia per rafforzare il meccanismo di respingimenti delegati continuano, dunque, a oltre cinque anni dal memorandum tra Roma e Tripoli in fase di imminente rinnovo. Un accordo che ha prodotto “abusi, sfruttamento, detenzione arbitraria e torture”, come denunciano oltre 40 organizzazioni per i diritti umani italiane promotrici il 26 ottobre di una conferenza stampa e una manifestazione in Piazza dell’Esquilino a Roma per “chiedere all’Italia e all’Europa di riconoscere le proprie responsabilità e non rinnovare gli accordi con la Libia” (dall’Arci all’Asgi, da Msf a Emergency, dalla Fondazione Migrantes a Intersos, da Sea-Watch ad Amnesty International Italia).

    “Se entro il 2 novembre il governo italiano non deciderà per la sua revoca -ricordano le Ong-, il memorandum Italia–Libia verrà automaticamente rinnovato per altri tre anni. Si tratta di un accordo che da ormai cinque anni ha conseguenze drammatiche sulla vita di migliaia di donne, uomini e bambini migranti e rifugiati”. Dal 2016 all’ottobre 2022 sono infatti oltre 120mila le persone intercettate in mare dalla cosiddetta guardia costiera libica e riportate forzatamente in Libia (fonte Oim). “Un Paese che non può essere considerato sicuro”.

    I contorni dell’abisso libico li ha descritti più volte, tra gli altri, la Missione indipendente sulla Libia delle Nazioni Unite che a fine giugno 2022 ha presentato una (ennesima) relazione sul punto al Consiglio dei diritti umani dell’Onu. “Diversi migranti intervistati dalla Missione hanno raccontato di aver subito violenze sessuali per mano di trafficanti e contrabbandieri, spesso con lo scopo di estorcere denaro alle famiglie, nonché di funzionari statali nei centri di detenzione, datori di lavoro o altri migranti -si legge-. Il rischio di violenza sessuale in Libia è tale e così noto che alcune donne e ragazze migranti assumono contraccettivi prima di partire proprio per evitare gravidanze indesiderate dovute a tali violenze”. È una violenza istituzionale. “Il carattere continuo, sistematico e diffuso di queste pratiche da parte della Direzione per la lotta all’immigrazione illegale (Dcim) e di altri attori coinvolti riflette la partecipazione di funzionari di medio e alto livello al ciclo della violenza sui migranti”.

    La brutalità non scompone i promotori della strategia di respingimento per procura, condotta nella totale mancanza di trasparenza sull’utilizzo complessivo dei fondi. Ad esempio quelli del Fondo di rotazione ex legge 183/1987, nel quale è previsto anche un “subcapitolo” dedicato alle spese per iniziative progettuali “a favore dello Stato della Libia”.

    Quando quest’estate abbiamo chiesto all’Ispettorato generale per i rapporti finanziari con l’Unione europea (Igrue) del ministero dell’Economia l’elenco dei pagamenti liquidati, dei beneficiari, delle causali di pagamento e degli estremi e del contenuto della voce di spesa in Libia, quest’ultimo ha rinviato al Viminale, sostenendo che la trasparenza fosse in capo a quell’amministrazione, “titolare del programma”. Il ministero dell’Interno ha però negato l’accesso perché “l’estrapolazione delle voci richieste comporterebbe un carico di lavoro tale da aggravare l’ordinaria attività dell’amministrazione”. La tipica cortina fumogena replicata anche per la convenzione del 2019 tra Invitalia e il Viminale, di cui ci è stato trasmesso il testo con cancellazioni sopra gli importi finanziari e orfano degli allegati, cioè della sostanza.

    https://altreconomia.it/litalia-cede-alla-libia-altre-14-navi-veloci-per-intercettare-le-person

    #Italie #Libye #navires #externalisation #frontières #contrôles_frontaliers #migrations #réfugiés #Méditerranée #Invitalia #Support_to_integrated_Border_and_migration_management_in_Libya (#Sibmmil) #fonds_fiduciaire #Bernardo_Mattarella #Amministrazione_generale_per_la_sicurezza_costiera (#Gacs) #Direzione_per_la_lotta_all’immigrazione_illegale (#Dcim) #police #police_libyenne #B-Shiver #Novamarine #Sno #Francesco_Pirro

    ping @isskein

  • En #Libye, les oubliés

    #Michaël_Neuman a passé une dizaine de jours en Libye, auprès des équipes de Médecins Sans Frontières qui travaillent notamment dans des #centres_de_détention pour migrants. De son séjour, il ramène les impressions suivantes qui illustrent le caractère lugubre de la situation des personnes qui y sont retenues, pour des mois, des années, et celle plus difficile encore de toutes celles sujets aux #enlèvements et aux #tortures.

    La saison est aux départs. Les embarcations de fortune prennent la mer à un rythme soutenu transportant à leur bord hommes, femmes et enfants. Depuis le début de l’année, 2300 personnes sont parvenues en Europe, plus de 2000 ont été interceptées et ramenées en Libye, par les garde-côtes, formés et financés par les Européens. Les uns avaient dès leur départ le projet de rejoindre l’Europe, les autres ont fait ce choix après avoir échoué dans les réseaux de trafic d’êtres humains, soumis aux tortures et privations. Les trajectoires se mêlent, les raisons des départs des pays d’origine ne sont souvent pas univoques. En ce mois de février 2020, ils sont nombreux à tenter leur chance. Ils partent de Tripoli, de Khoms, de Sabrata… villes où se mêlent conflits, intérêts d’affaires, tribaux, semblants d’Etat faisant mine de fonctionner, corruption. Les Libyens ne sont pas épargnés par le désordre ou les épisodes de guerre. Pourtant, ce sont les apparences de vie normale qui frappent le visiteur. Les marchés de fruits et légumes, comme les bouchons qui encombrent les rues de Tripoli en témoignent  : la ville a gonflé au rythme des arrivées de déplacés originaires des quartiers touchés par la guerre d’attrition dont le pays est le théâtre entre le gouvernement intérimaire libyen qui règne encore sur Tripoli et une partie du littoral ouest et le LNA, du Maréchal Haftar, qui contrôle une grande partie du pays. Puissances internationales – Italie, France, Russie, Turquie, Emirats Arabes Unis – sont rentrées progressivement dans le jeu, transformant la Libye en poudrière dont chaque coup de semonce de l’un des belligérants semble annoncer une prochaine déflagration d’ampleur. Erdogan et Poutine se faisant face, le pouls du conflit se prend aujourd’hui autant à Idlib en Syrie qu’à Tripoli.

    C’est dans ce pays en guerre que l’Union européenne déploie sa politique de soutien aux interceptions et aux retours des ‘migrants’. Tout y passe  : financement et formation des gardes côtes-libyens, délégation du sauvetage aux navires commerciaux, intimidation des bateaux de sauvetage des ONG, suspension de l’Opération Sophia. Mais rien n’y fait  : ni les bombardements sur le port et l’aéroport de Tripoli, ni les tirs de roquettes sur des centres de détention situés à proximité d’installation militaire, pas davantage que les témoignages produits sur les exécrables conditions de vie qui prévalent dans les centres de détention, les détournements de financements internationaux, ou sur la précarité extrême des migrants résidant en ville n’ébranlent les certitudes européennes. L’hypocrisie règne  : l’Union européenne affirme être contre la détention tout en la nourrissant par l’entretien du dispositif libyen d’interception  ; le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies pour les Réfugiés condamne les interceptions sans jamais évoquer la responsabilité des Européens.

    Onze centres de détention sont placés sous la responsabilité de la Direction chargée de l’immigration irrégulière libyenne (la DCIM). La liste évolue régulièrement sans que l’on sache toujours pourquoi, ni si la disparition d’un centre signifie véritablement qu’il a été vidé de ses détenus, ou qu’ils y résident encore sous un régime informel et sans doute plus violent encore. Une fois dans ces centres, les détenus ne savent jamais quand ils pourront en sortir  : certains s’en échappent, d’autres parviennent à acheter leur sortie, beaucoup y pourrissent des mois voire des années. L’attente y est physiquement et psychologiquement dévastatrice. C’est ainsi le lot des détenus de Dar El Jebel, près de Zintan, au cœur des montagnes Nafusa, loin et oubliés de tous : la plupart, des Erythréens, y sont depuis deux ans, parfois plus.

    La nourriture est insuffisante, les cellules, d’où les migrants ne sortent parfois que très peu, sont sombres et très froides ou très chaudes. Les journées sont parfois rythmées par les cliquetis des serrures et des barreaux. Dans la nuit du samedi 29 février au dimanche 1er mars 2020, une dizaine de jours après mon retour, un incendie sans doute accidentel à l’intérieur du centre de détention de Dar El Jebel a coûté la vie à un jeune homme érythréen.

    Nous pouvons certes témoigner que le travail entamé dans ces centres, l’attention portée à l’amélioration des conditions de vie, les consultations médicales, l’apport de compléments alimentaires, mais aussi et peut-être surtout la présence physique, visible, régulière ont contribué à les humaniser, voire à y limiter la violence qui s’y déploie. Pour autant, nous savons que tout gain est précaire, susceptible d’être mis à mal par un changement d’équilibre local, la rotation des gardes, la confiance qui se gagne et se perd, les services que nous rendons. Il n’est pas rare que les directeurs de centre expliquent que femmes et enfants n’ont rien à faire dans ces endroits, pas rare non plus qu’ils infligent des punitions sévères à ceux qui auraient tenté de s’échapper  ; certains affament leurs détenus, d’autres les libèrent lorsque la compagnie chargée de fournir les repas interrompt ses services faute de voir ses factures réglées. Il est probable que si les portes de certains centres de détention venaient à s’ouvrir, nombreux sont des détenus qui décideraient d’y rester, préférant à l’incertitude de l’extérieur leur précarité connue. Cela, beaucoup le disent à nos équipes. Dans ce pays fragmenté, les dynamiques et enjeux politiques locaux l’emportent. Ce qu’on apprend vite, en Libye, c’est l’impossibilité de généraliser les situations.

    Nous savons aussi que nous n’avons aucune vocation à devenir le service de santé d’un système de détention arbitraire  : il faut que ces gens sortent. Des hommes le plus souvent, mais aussi des femmes et des enfants, parfois tout petits, parfois nés en détention, parfois nés de viols. L’exposition à la violence, la perméabilité aux milices, aux trafiquants, la possibilité pour les détenus de travailler et de gagner un peu d’argent varient considérablement d’un centre à l’autre. Il en est aussi de leur accès pour les organisations humanitaires.

    Mais nous savons surtout que les centres de détention officiels n’abritent que 2000, 3000 des migrants en danger présents en Libye. Et les autres alors  ? Beaucoup travaillent, et assument une précarité qui est le lot, bien sûr à des degrés divers, de nombreux immigrés dans le monde, de Dubaï à Paris, de Khartoum à Bogota. Mais quelques dizaines de milliers d’autres, soit par malchance, soit parce qu’ils n’ont aucun projet de vie en Libye et recourent massivement aux services peu fiables de trafiquants risquent gros  : les enlèvements bien sûr, kidnappings contre rançons qui s’accompagnent de tortures et de sévices. Certains de ces «  migrants  », entre 45 000 et 50 000, sont reconnus «  réfugiés ou des demandeurs d’asiles  » par le Haut-Commissariat pour les réfugiés : ils sont Erythréens, Soudanais, Somaliens pour la plupart. De très nombreux autres, migrants économiques dit-on, sont Nigérians, Maliens, Marocains, Guinéens, Bangladeshis, etc. Ils sont plus seuls encore.

    Pour les premiers, un maigre espoir de relocalisation subsiste  : l’année dernière, le HCR fut en mesure d’organiser le départ de 2400 personnes vers le Niger et le Rwanda, où elles ont été placées encore quelques mois en situation d’attente avant qu’un pays, le plus souvent européen, les accepte. A ce rythme donc, il faudrait 20 ans pour les évacuer en totalité – et c’est sans compter les arrivées nouvelles. D’autant plus que le programme de ‘réinstallation’ cible en priorité les personnes identifiées comme vulnérables, à savoir femmes, enfants, malades. Les hommes adultes, seuls – la grande majorité des Erythréens par exemple – ont peu de chance de faire partie des rares personnes sélectionnées. Or très lourdement endettés et craignant légitimement pour leur sécurité dans leur pays d’origine, ils ne rentreront en aucun cas ; ayant perdu l’espoir que le Haut-Commissariat pour les réfugiés les fassent sortir de là, leur seule perspective réside dans une dangereuse et improbable traversée de la Méditerranée.

    Faute de lieux protégés, lorsqu’ils sont extraits des centres de détention par le HCR, ils sont envoyés en ville, à Tripoli surtout, devenant des ‘réfugiés urbains’ bénéficiant d’un paquet d’aide minimal, délivré en une fois et dont on peine à voir la protection qu’il garantit à qui que ce soit. Dans ces lieux, les migrants restent à la merci des trafiquants et des violences, comme ce fut le cas pour deux Erythréens en janvier dernier. Ceux-là avaient pourtant et pour un temps, été placés sous la protection du HCR au sein du Gathering and Departure Facility. Fin 2018, le HCR avait obtenu l’ouverture à Tripoli de ce centre cogéré avec les autorités libyennes et initialement destiné à faciliter l’évacuation des demandeurs d’asiles vers des pays tiers. Prévu à l’origine pour accueillir 1000 personnes, il n’aura pas résisté plus d’un an au conflit qui a embrasé la capitale en avril 2019 et à la proximité de milices combattantes.

    D’ailleurs, certains d’entre eux préfèrent la certitude de la précarité des centres de détention à l’incertitude plus inquiétante encore de la résidence en milieu ouvert  : c’est ainsi qu’à intervalles réguliers, nous sommes témoins de ces retours. En janvier, quatre femmes somalies, sommées de libérer le GDF en janvier, ont fait le choix de rejoindre en taxi leurs maris détenus à Dar El Jebel, dont elles avaient été séparées par le HCR qui ne reconnaissaient pas la légalité des couples. Les promesses d’évacuation étant virtuelles, elles sont en plus confrontées à une absurdité supplémentaire  : une personne enregistrée par le HCR ne pourra bénéficier du système de rapatriement volontaire de l’Organisation Internationale des Migrations quand bien même elle le souhaiterait.

    Pour les seconds, non protégés par le HCR, l’horizon n’est pas plus lumineux : d’accès à l’Europe, il ne peut en être question qu’au prix, là encore, d’une dangereuse traversée. L’alternative est le retour au pays, promue et organisée par l’Organisation internationale des Migrations et vécue comme une défaite souvent indépassable. De tels retours, l’OIM en a organisé plus de 40 000 depuis 2016. En 2020, ils seront probablement environ 10 000 à saisir l’occasion d’un «  départ volontaire  », dont on mesure à chaque instant l’absurdité de la qualification. Au moins, ceux-là auront-ils mis leur expérience libyenne derrière eux.

    La situation des migrants en Libye est à la fois banale et exceptionnelle. Exceptionnelle en raison de l’intense violence à laquelle ils sont souvent confrontés, du moins pour un grand nombre d’entre eux - la violence des trafiquants et des ravisseurs, la violence du risque de mourir en mer, la violence de la guerre. Mais elle est aussi banale, de manière terrifiante : la différence entre un Érythréen vivant parmi des rats sous le périphérique parisien ou dans un centre de détention à Khoms n’est pas si grande. Leur expérience de la migration est incroyablement violente, leur situation précaire et dangereuse. La situation du Darfouri à Agadez n’est pas bien meilleure, ni celle d’un Afghan de Samos, en Grèce. Il est difficile de ne pas voir cette population, incapable de bouger dans le monde de la mobilité, comme la plus indésirable parmi les indésirables. Ce sont les oubliés.

    https://www.msf-crash.org/index.php/fr/blog/camps-refugies-deplaces/en-libye-les-oublies
    #rapport_d'observation #torture #détention #gardes-côtes_libyens #hypocrisie #UE #EU #Union_européenne #responsabilité #Direction_chargée_de_l’immigration_irrégulière_libyenne (#DCIM) #Dar_El_Jebel #Zintan #montagne #Nafusa (#montagnes_Nafusa) #attente #violence #relocalisation #Niger #Rwanda #réinstallation #vulnérabilité #urban_refugees #Tripoli #réfugiés_urbains #HCR #GDF #OIM #IOM #rapatriement_volontaire #retour_au_pays #retour_volontaire

    ping @_kg_

  • Migrants en Libye, les oubliés de l’exil

    Venus le plus souvent d’Érythrée, les migrants sont détenus dans des conditions lamentables, et souvent les victimes de milices qui les torturent et les rançonnent. Les Nations unies et l’Union européenne préfèrent détourner le regard. Témoignages.

    L’odeur d’excréments s’accentue à mesure que nous approchons de l’entrepôt qui constitue le bâtiment principal du centre de détention de #Dhar-El-Djebel, dans les montagnes du #djebel_Nefoussa. Un problème de plomberie, précise le directeur, confus.

    Il ouvre le portail métallique du hangar en béton, qui abrite environ 500 détenus, presque tous érythréens. Les demandeurs d’asile reposent sur des matelas gris à même le sol. Au bout d’une allée ouverte entre les matelas, des hommes font la queue pour uriner dans l’un des onze seaux prévus à cet effet.

    Personne dans cette pièce, m’avait expliqué un détenu lors de ma première visite en mai 2019, n’a vu la lumière du jour depuis septembre 2018, quand un millier de migrants détenus à Tripoli ont été évacués ici. #Zintan, la ville la plus proche, est éloignée des combats de la capitale libyenne, mais aussi des yeux des agences internationales. Les migrants disent avoir été oubliés.

    En Libye, quelque 5 000 migrants sont toujours détenus pour une durée indéterminée dans une dizaine de #centres_de_détention principaux, officiellement gérés par la #Direction_pour_combattre_la_migration_illégale (#Directorate_for_Combatting_Illegal_Migration, #DCIM) du gouvernement d’entente nationale (#GEN) reconnu internationalement. En réalité, depuis la chute de Mouammar Kadhafi en 2011, la Libye ne dispose pas d’un gouvernement stable, et ces centres sont souvent contrôlés par des #milices. En l’absence d’un gouvernement fonctionnel, les migrants en Libye sont régulièrement kidnappés, réduits en esclavage et torturés contre rançon.

    L’Europe finance les garde-côtes

    Depuis 2017, l’Union européenne (UE) finance les #garde-côtes_libyens pour empêcher les migrants d’atteindre les côtes européennes. Des forces libyennes, certaines équipées et entraînées par l’UE, capturent et enferment ainsi des migrants dans des centres de détention, dont certains se trouvent dans des zones de guerre, ou sont gardés par des milices connues pour vendre les migrants à des trafiquants.

    Contrairement à d’autres centres de détention que j’ai visités en Libye, celui de Dhar-El-Djebel ne ressemble pas à une prison. Avant 2011, cet ensemble de bâtiments en pleine campagne était, selon les termes officiels, un centre d’entraînement pour « les bourgeons, les lionceaux et les avant-bras du Grand Libérateur » — les enfants à qui l’on enseignait le Livre vert de Kadhafi. Quand le GEN, basé à Tripoli, a été formé en 2016, le centre a été placé sous l’autorité du DCIM.

    En avril, Médecins sans frontières (MSF) pour lequel je travaillais a commencé à faire des consultations à Dhar-El-Djebel. Le centre retenait alors 700 migrants. La plupart étaient enregistrés comme demandeurs d’asile par l’Agence des Nations Unies pour les réfugiés (UNHCR), mais selon la loi libyenne, ce sont des migrants « illégaux » et ils peuvent être détenus pour une durée indéterminée.

    N’ayant que peu d’espoir de sortir, plusieurs ont tenté de se suicider au contact de fils électriques. D’autres avaient placé leur foi en Dieu, mais aussi dans les réseaux sociaux et leurs talents de bricoleurs. La plupart des détenus érythréens sont chrétiens : sur le mur face à la porte, ils ont construit une église orthodoxe abyssine au moyen de cartons colorés de nourriture et de matelas verts du HCR, avec des croix en cire de bougie. Sur d’autres matelas, ils ont écrit, avec du concentré de tomates et du piment rouge, des slogans tels que « Nous sommes victimes du HCR en Libye ». Avec leurs smartphones, ils ont posté des photos sur les réseaux sociaux, posant avec les bras croisés pour montrer qu’ils étaient prisonniers.

    Leurs efforts avaient attiré l’attention. Le 3 juin, le HCR évacuait 96 demandeurs d’asile à Tripoli. Une semaine plus tard, l’entrepôt bondé dans lequel j’avais d’abord rencontré les migrants était enfin vidé. Mais 450 Érythréens restaient enfermés dans le centre, entassés dans d’autres bâtiments, à plus de vingt dans une vingtaine de cellules, bien que de nombreux détenus préfèrent dormir dans les cours, sous des tentes de fortune faites de couvertures.

    « Ils nous appellent Dollars et Euros »

    La plupart des Érythréens de Dhar-El-Djebel racontent une histoire proche : avant d’être piégés dans le système de détention libyen, ils ont fui la dictature érythréenne, où le service militaire est obligatoire et tout aussi arbitraire. En 2017, Gebray, âgé d’un peu plus de 30 ans, a laissé sa femme et son fils dans un camp de réfugiés en Éthiopie et payé des passeurs 1 600 dollars (1 443 euros) pour traverser le désert soudanais vers la Libye avec des dizaines d’autres migrants. Mais les passeurs les ont vendus à des trafiquants libyens qui les ont détenus et torturés à l’électricité jusqu’à ce qu’ils téléphonent à leurs proches pour leur demander une #rançon. Après 10 mois en prison, la famille de Gebray avait envoyé près de 10 000 dollars (9 000 euros) pour sa libération : « Ma mère et mes sœurs ont dû vendre leurs bijoux. Je dois maintenant les rembourser. C’est très dur de parler de ça ».

    Les migrants érythréens sont particulièrement ciblés, car beaucoup de trafiquants libyens croient qu’ils peuvent compter sur l’aide d’une riche diaspora en Europe et en Amérique du Nord. « Nous sommes les plus pauvres, mais les Libyens pensent que nous sommes riches. Ils nous appellent Dollars et Euros », me raconte un autre migrant.

    Après avoir survécu à la #torture, beaucoup comme Gebray ont de nouveau payé pour traverser la mer, mais ont été interceptés par les garde-côtes libyens et enfermés en centre de détention. Certains compagnons de cellule de Gebray ont été détenus depuis plus de deux ans dans cinq centres successifs. Alors que la traversée de la Méditerranée devenait plus risquée, certains se sont rendus d’eux-mêmes dans des centres de détention dans l’espoir d’y être enregistrés par le HCR.

    Les ravages de la tuberculose

    Dans l’entrepôt de Dhar-El-Djebel, Gebray a retrouvé un ancien camarade d’école, Habtom, qui est devenu dentiste. Grâce à ses connaissances médicales, Habtom s’est rendu compte qu’il avait la tuberculose. Après quatre mois à tousser, il a été transféré de l’entrepôt dans un plus petit bâtiment pour les Érythréens les plus malades. Gebray, qui explique qu’à ce moment-là, il ne pouvait « plus marcher, même pour aller aux toilettes », l’y a rapidement suivi. Quand j’ai visité la « maison des malades », quelque 90 Érythréens, la plupart suspectés d’avoir la tuberculose, y étaient confinés et ne recevaient aucun traitement adapté.

    Autrefois peu répandue en Libye, la tuberculose s’est rapidement propagée parmi les migrants dans les prisons bondées. Tandis que je parlais à Gebray, il m’a conseillé de mettre un masque : « J’ai dormi et mangé avec des tuberculeux, y compris Habtom ».

    Habtom est mort en décembre 2018. « Si j’ai la chance d’arriver en Europe, j’aiderai sa famille, c’est mon devoir », promet Gebray. De septembre 2018 à mai 2019, au moins 22 détenus de Dhar-El-Djebel sont morts, principalement de la tuberculose. Des médecins étaient pourtant présents dans le centre de détention, certains de l’Organisation internationale pour les migrations (OIM), et d’autres d’#International_Medical_Corps (#IMC), une ONG américaine financée par le HCR et l’UE. Selon un responsable libyen, « nous les avons suppliés d’envoyer des détenus à l’hôpital, mais ils ont dit qu’ils n’avaient pas de budget pour ça ». Les transferts à l’hôpital ont été rares. En revanche, une quarantaine des détenus les plus malades, la plupart chrétiens, ont été transférés dans un autre centre de détention à Gharyan, plus proche d’un cimetière chrétien. « Ils ont été envoyés à Gharyan pour mourir », explique Gebray. Huit d’entre eux sont morts entre janvier et mai.

    Contrairement à Dhar-El-Djebel, #Gharyan ressemble à un centre de détention : une série de containers entourés de hauts grillages métalliques. Yemane a été transféré ici en janvier : « Le directeur de Dhar-El-Djebel et le personnel d’IMC nous ont dit qu’ils allaient nous conduire à l’hôpital à Tripoli. Ils n’ont pas parlé de Gharyan... Quand on est arrivés, on a été immédiatement enfermés dans un container ».
    Des migrants vendus et torturés

    Selon Yemane, une femme a tenté de se pendre quand elle a compris qu’elle était à Gharyan, et non dans un hôpital, comme le leur avaient promis les médecins d’IMC. Beaucoup gardaient de mauvais souvenirs de Gharyan : en 2018, des hommes armés masqués y ont kidnappé quelque 150 migrants détenus dans le centre et les ont vendus à des centres de torture. Le centre a alors brièvement fermé, puis rouvert, avec à sa tête un nouveau directeur, qui m’a expliqué que des trafiquants l’appelaient régulièrement pour tenter de lui acheter des migrants détenus.

    En avril 2019, des forces de Khalifa Haftar, l’homme fort de l’est de la Libye, ont lancé une offensive contre les forces pro-GEN à Tripoli et se sont emparées de Gharyan. Les troupes d’Haftar se sont installées à proximité du centre de détention et les avions du GEN ont régulièrement bombardé la zone. Effrayés par les frappes aériennes autant que par les migrants tuberculeux, les gardes ont déserté. Chaque fois que je me suis rendu sur place, nous sommes allés chercher le directeur dans sa maison en ville, puis l’avons conduit jusqu’au portail du centre, où il appelait un migrant pour qu’il lui ouvre. Les détenus lui avaient demandé un cadenas pour pouvoir s’enfermer et se protéger des incursions. De fait, des forces pro-Haftar venaient demander aux migrants de travailler pour eux. Yemane indique qu’un jour, ils ont enlevé quinze hommes, dont on est sans nouvelles.

    MSF a demandé au HCR d’évacuer les détenus de Gharyan. L’agence de l’ONU a d’abord nié que Gharyan était en zone de guerre, avant de l’admettre et de suggérer le transfert des détenus au centre de détention #Al-Nasr, à #Zawiya, à l’ouest de Tripoli. Pourtant, le Conseil de sécurité de l’ONU a accusé les forces qui contrôlent ce centre de trafic de migrants, et placé deux de leurs dirigeants sous sanctions.

    « Si vous êtes malades, vous devez mourir ! »

    Les détenus étaient toujours à Gharyan quand, le 26 juin, les forces du GEN ont repris la zone. Le jour suivant, ils ont forcé le portail du centre de détention avec une voiture et demandé aux migrants de se battre à leurs côtés. Les détenus effrayés ont montré leurs médicaments contre la tuberculose en répétant des mots d’arabe que des employés du HCR leur avaient appris − kaha (#toux) et darn (#tuberculose). Les miliciens sont repartis, l’un d’eux lançant aux migrants : « Si vous êtes malades, on reviendra vous tuer. Vous devez mourir ! ».

    Le 4 juillet, le HCR a enfin évacué les détenus restants vers Tripoli. L’agence a donné à chacun d’eux 450 dinars (100 euros) pour qu’ils subvenir à leurs besoins dans une ville qu’ils ne connaissaient pas. L’abri où ils étaient censés loger s’avérant trop coûteux, ils ont déménagé vers un endroit moins cher, jadis une bergerie. « Le HCR dit qu’on sera en sécurité dans cette ville, mais pour nous, la Libye n’offre ni liberté ni sécurité », explique Yemane.

    La plupart des 29 migrants évacués de Gharyan sont maintenant bloqués, et en danger, dans les rues de Tripoli, mais espèrent toujours obtenir l’asile en dehors de Libye. Les combats se poursuivant à Tripoli, des miliciens ont proposé à Yemane de s’enrôler pour 1 000 dollars (901 euros) par mois. « J’ai vu beaucoup de migrants qui ont été recrutés ainsi, puis blessés », m’a-t-il raconté récemment sur WhatsApp. Deux de ses colocataires ont été à nouveau emprisonnés par des milices, qui leur ont demandé 200 dollars (180 euros) chacun.

    Les migrants de Gharyan ont si peur dans les rues de Tripoli qu’ils ont demandé à retourner en détention ; l’un d’entre eux est même parvenu à entrer dans le centre de détention d’Abou Salim. Nombre d’entre eux ont la tuberculose. Fin octobre, Yemane lui-même a découvert qu’il en était porteur, mais n’a pas encore de traitement.
    « Ils nous ont donné de faux espoirs »

    Contrairement à Gharyan, Dhar-El-Djebel est loin des combats. Mais depuis avril, des migrants détenus à Tripoli refusent d’y être transférés car ils craignent d’être oubliés dans le djebel Nefoussa. Selon un responsable de la zone, « notre seul problème ici, c’est que le HCR ne fait pas son travail. Cela fait deux ans qu’ils font de fausses promesses à ces gens ». La plupart des détenus de Dhar-El-Djebel ont été enregistrés comme demandeurs d’asile par le HCR, et espèrent donc être relocalisés dans des pays d’accueil sûr. Gebray a été enregistré en octobre 2018 à Dhar-El-Djebel : « Depuis, je n’ai pas vu le HCR. Ils nous ont donné de faux espoirs en nous disant qu’ils allaient revenir bientôt pour nous interviewer et nous évacuer de Libye ».

    Les 96 Érythréens et Somaliens transférés en juin de Dhar-El-Djebel au « centre de rassemblement et de départ » du HCR à Tripoli étaient convaincus qu’ils feraient partie des chanceux prioritaires pour une évacuation vers l’Europe ou l’Amérique du Nord. Mais en octobre, le HCR aurait rejeté une soixantaine d’entre eux, dont 23 femmes et 6 enfants. Ils n’ont plus d’autre choix que de tenter de survivre dans les rues de Tripoli ou d’accepter un « retour volontaire » vers les pays dont ils ont fui la violence.

    Le rapport de la visite de l’ONU à Dhar-El-Djebel en juin, durant ce même transfert, avait prévenu que « le nombre de personnes que le HCR sera en mesure d’évacuer sera très faible par rapport à la population restante [à Dhar-El-Djebel] en raison du nombre de places limité offert la communauté internationale ».

    De fait, le HCR a enregistré près de 60 000 demandeurs d’asile en Libye, mais n’a pu en évacuer qu’environ 2 000 par an. La capacité de l’agence à évacuer des demandeurs d’asile de Libye dépend des offres des pays d’accueil, principalement européens. Les plus ouverts n’accueillent chaque année que quelques centaines des réfugiés bloqués en Libye. Les détenus de Dhar-El-Djebel le savent. Lors d’une de leurs manifestations, leurs slogans écrits à la sauce tomate visaient directement l’Europe : « Nous condamnons la politique de l’UE envers les réfugiés innocents détenus en Libye ».

    « L’Europe dit qu’elle nous renvoie en Libye pour notre propre sécurité, explique Gebray. Pourquoi ne nous laissent-ils pas mourir en mer, sans souffrance ? Cela vaut mieux que de nous laisser dépérir ici ».

    https://orientxxi.info/magazine/migrants-en-libye-les-oublies-de-l-exil,3460
    #Libye #asile #migrations #réfugiés #réfugiés_érythréens #santé #maladie #externalisation

    –-----

    Et pour la liste de @sinehebdo, deux nouveaux #mots : #Dollars et #Euros

    Les migrants érythréens sont particulièrement ciblés, car beaucoup de trafiquants libyens croient qu’ils peuvent compter sur l’aide d’une riche diaspora en Europe et en Amérique du Nord. « Nous sommes les plus pauvres, mais les Libyens pensent que nous sommes riches. Ils nous appellent Dollars et Euros », me raconte un autre migrant.

    #terminologie #vocabulaire

    • Libye : que se passe-t-il dans le « #centre_d’investigations » de #Tripoli ?

      La semaine dernière, environ 300 migrants interceptés en mer par les garde-côtes libyens ont été transférés dans le centre de #Sharah_Zawiya, au sud de la capitale libyenne. Ouvert depuis au moins un an – avec une fermeture de quelques mois fin 2019 – le lieu est depuis peu contrôlé par le #DCIM et accessible à l’Organisation internationale des migrations (#OIM).

      #Centre_de_détention « caché », #centre_de_transit ou centre « d’investigations » ? Le centre de Sharah Zawiya, dans le sud de Tripoli, est l’objet d’interrogations pour nombre d’observateurs des questions migratoires en Libye.

      Selon l’Organisation internationale des migrations (OIM), contactée par InfoMigrants, le lieu est supposé être un centre de transit : les migrants interceptés en mer sont envoyés dans cette structure afin d’y subir un interrogatoire avant leur transfert vers un centre de détention officiel.

      « Théoriquement, ils [les migrants] ne restent pas plus de 48 heures à Sharah Zawiya », précise l’OIM.

      « Je suis resté au moins trois mois dans ce centre »

      Or plusieurs migrants, avec qui InfoMigrants est en contact et qui sont passés par ce centre, affirment avoir été enfermés plus que deux jours et disent n’avoir jamais été interrogés. « Je suis resté au moins trois mois là-bas l’été dernier, avant de réussir à m’en échapper », indique Ali, un Guinéen de 18 ans qui vit toujours en Libye. « Durant toute cette période, on ne m’a posé aucune question ».

      Ce dernier explique qu’à leur arrivée, les gardiens dépouillent les migrants. « Ils prennent tout ce qu’on a, le plus souvent nos téléphones et de l’argent ». Ibrahim, un Guinéen de 17 ans qui a – lui aussi - réussi à s’échapper du centre ce week-end après avoir été intercepté en mer, raconte la même histoire. « Ils m’ont forcé à leur donner mon téléphone et les 100 euros que j’avais sur moi », soupire-t-il.

      Ali assure également que les Libyens demandent une #rançon pour sortir du centre, avoisinant les 3 000 dinars libyens (environ 1 950 euros). « Un monsieur, un Africain, nous amenait des téléphones pour qu’on contacte nos familles et qu’on leur demande de l’argent. Un autre, un Arabe, récupérait la somme due ». Il détaille également les #coups portés sur les migrants « sans aucune raison » et le #rationnement_de_la_nourriture – « un morceau de pain pour trois personnes le matin, et un plat de pâtes pour six le soir ».

      D’après des informations recueillies et vérifiées par InfoMigrants, le centre est ouvert depuis au moins un an et a fermé quelques mois fin 2019 avant de rouvrir la semaine dernière avec l’arrivée d’environ 300 migrants. Un changement de chefferie à la tête du centre serait à l’origine de cette fermeture temporaire.

      Changement d’organisation ?

      Ce changement de responsable a-t-il été accompagné d’un changement de fonctionnement ? Ali explique qu’il s’est enfui vers le mois d’octobre, après trois mois de détention, avec l’aide de l’ancienne équipe. « Les Libyens qui contrôlaient le centre nous ont dit de partir car un nouveau chef devait arriver. L’ancien et le nouveau responsable n’étaient d’ailleurs pas d’accord entre eux, à tel point que leurs équipes ont tirés les uns sur les autres pendant que nous prenions la fuite ».
      L’OIM signale de son côté n’avoir reçu l’autorisation d’entrer dans le centre que depuis la semaine dernière. « Avant, le lieu était géré par le ministère de l’Intérieur, mais depuis quelques jours c’est le DCIM [le département de lutte contre la migration illégale, NDLR] qui a repris le contrôle », explique l’agence onusienne à InfoMigrants.

      Ibrahim assure, lui, qu’aucune somme d’argent n’a été demandée par les gardiens pour quitter le centre. Les personnes interceptées en mer, mardi 18 février, ont en revanche été transférées samedi vers le centre de détention de #Zaouia, où une rançon de 2 000 dinars (environ 1 300 euros) leur a été réclamée pour pouvoir en sortir.
      Ce genre de centre n’est pas une exception en Libye, prévient une source qui souhaite garder l’anonymat. « Il existe d’autres centres de ce type en Libye où on ne sait pas vraiment ce qu’il s’y passe. Et de toute façon, #centre_d’investigation, de transit ou de détention c’est pareil. Les migrants y sont toujours détenus de manière arbitraire pour une période indéfinie ».

      https://www.infomigrants.net/fr/post/22991/libye-que-se-passe-t-il-dans-le-centre-d-investigations-de-tripoli
      #Zawiya #IOM #détention

  • Detainees Evacuated out of Libya but Resettlement Capacity Remains Inadequate

    According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (#UNHCR) 262 migrants detained in Libya were evacuated to Niger on November 12- the largest evacuation from Libya carried out to date. In addition to a successful airlift of 135 people in October this year, this brings the total number of people evacuated to more than 2000 since December 2017. However Amnesty International describes the resettlement process from Niger as slow and the number of pledges inadequate.

    The evacuations in October and November were the first since June when the Emergency Transit Mechanism (ETM) centre in Niger reached its full capacity of 1,536 people, which according to Amnesty was a result of a large number of people “still waiting for their permanent resettlement to a third country.”

    57,483 refugees and asylum seekers are registered by UNHCR in Libya; as of October 2018 14,349 had agreed to Voluntary Humanitarian Return. Currently 3,886 resettlement pledges have been made by 12 states, but only 1,140 have been resettled.

    14,595 people have been intercepted by the Libyan coast guard and taken back to Libya, however it has been well documented that their return is being met by detention, abuse, violence and torture. UNHCR recently declared Libya unsafe for returns amid increased violence in the capital, while Amnesty International has said that “thousands of men, women and children are trapped in Libya facing horrific abuses with no way out”.

    In this context, refugees and migrants are currently refusing to disembark in Misrata after being rescued by a cargo ship on November 12, reportedly saying “they would rather die than be returned to land”. Reuters cited one Sudanese teenager on board who stated “We agree to go to any place but not Libya.”

    UNHCR estimates that 5,413 refugees and migrants remain detained in #Directorate_for_Combatting_Illegal_Migration (#DCIM) centres and the UN Refugee Agency have repetedly called for additional resettlement opportunities for vulnerable persons of concern in Libya.

    https://www.ecre.org/detainees-evacuated-out-of-libya-but-resettlement-capacity-remains-inadequate
    #réinstallation #Niger #Libye #évacuation #asile #migrations #réfugiés #HCR #détention #centres_de_détention #Emergency_Transit_Mechanism (#ETM)

    • ET DES INFORMATIONS PLUS ANCIENNES DANS LE FIL CI-DESSOUS

      Libya: evacuations to Niger resumed – returns from Niger begun

      After being temporarily suspended in March as the result of concerns from local authorities on the pace of resettlement out of Niger, UNHCR evacuations of vulnerable refugees and asylum seekers from Libya through the Emergency Transit Mechanism has been resumed and 132 vulnerable migrants flown to the country. At the same time the deportation of 132 Sudanese nationals from Niger to Libya has raised international concern.

      Niger is the main host for refugees and asylum seekers from Libya evacuated by UNHCR. Since the UN Refugee Agency began evacuations in cooperation with EU and Libyan authorities in November 2017, Niger has received 1,152 of the 1,474 people evacuated in total. While UNHCR has submitted 475 persons for resettlement a modest 108 in total have been resettled in Europe. According to UNHCR the government in Niger has now offered to host an additional 1,500 refugees from Libya through the Emergency Transit Mechanism and upon its revival and the first transfer of 132 refugees to Niger, UNHCR’s Special Envoy for the Central Mediterranean Situation, Vincent Cochetel stated: “We now urgently need to find resettlement solutions for these refugees in other countries.”

      UNHCR has confirmed the forced return by authorities in Niger of at least 132 of a group of 160 Sudanese nationals arrested in the migrant hub of Agadez, the majority after fleeing harsh conditions in Libya. Agadez is known as a major transit hub for refugees and asylum seekers seeking passage to Libya and Europe but the trend is reversed and 1,700 Sudanese nationals have fled from Libya to Niger since December 2017. In a mail to IRIN News, Human Rights Watch’s associate director for Europe and Central Asia, Judith Sunderland states: “It is inhuman and unlawful to send migrants and refugees back to Libya, where they face shocking levels of torture, sexual violence, and forced labour,” with reference to the principle of non-refoulement.

      According to a statement released by Amnesty International on May 16: “At least 7,000 migrants and refugees are languishing in Libyan detention centres where abuse is rife and food and water in short supply. This is a sharp increase from March when there were 4,400 detained migrants and refugees, according to Libyan officials.”

      https://www.ecre.org/libya-evacuations-to-niger-resumed-returns-from-niger-begun

    • Libya: return operations running but slow resettlement is jeopardizing the evacuation scheme

      According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) 15.000 migrants have been returned from Libya to their country of origin and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has assisted in the evacuation of more than 1,300 refugees from Libya thereby fulfilling the targets announced at the AU-EU-UN Taskforce meeting in December 2017. However, a modest 25 of the more than 1000 migrants evacuated to Niger have been resettled to Europe and the slow pace is jeopardizing further evacuations.

      More than 1000 of the 1300 migrants evacuated from Libya are hosted by Niger and Karmen Sakhr, who oversees the North Africa unit at the UNHCR states to the EU Observer that the organisation: “were advised that until more people leave Niger, we will no longer be able to evacuate additional cases from Libya.”

      During a meeting on Monday 5 March with the Civil Liberties Committee and Foreign Affairs Committee MEPs, members of the Delegation for relations with Maghreb countries, Commission and External Action Service representatives on the mistreatment of migrants and refugees in Libya, and arrangements for their resettlement or return, UNHCR confirmed that pledges have been made by France, Switzerland, Italy, Norway, Sweden and Malta as well as unspecified non-EU countries but that security approvals and interviewing process of the cases is lengthy resulting in the modest number of resettlements, while also warning that the EU member states need to put more work into resettlement of refugees, and that resettlement pledges still fall short of the needs. According to UNHCR 430 pledges has been made by European countries.

      An estimated 5000 people are in government detention and an unknown number held by private militias under well documented extreme conditions.

      https://www.ecre.org/libya-return-operations-running-but-slow-resettlement-is-jeopardizing-the-evac

    • Libya: migrants and refugees out by plane and in by boat

      The joint European Union (EU), African Union (AU) and United Nations (UN) Task Force visited Tripoli last week welcoming progress made evacuating and returning migrants and refugees out of Libya. EU has announced three new programmes, for protecting migrants and refugees in Libya and along the Central Mediterranean Route, and their return and reintegration. Bundestag Research Services and NGOs raise concerns over EU and Member State support to Libyan Coast Guard.

      Representatives of the Task Force, created in November 2017, met with Libyan authorities last week and visited a detention centres for migrants and a shelter for internally displaced people in Tripoli. Whilst they commended progress on Voluntary Humanitarian Returns, they outlined a number of areas for improvement. These include: comprehensive registration of migrants at disembarkation points and detention centres; improving detention centre conditions- with a view to end the current system of arbitrary detention; decriminalizing irregular migration in Libya.

      The three new programmes announced on Monday, will be part of the European Union Emergency Trust Fund for Africa. €115 million will go towards evacuating 3,800 refugees from Libya, providing protection and voluntary humanitarian return to 15,000 migrants in Libya and will support the resettlement of 14,000 people in need of international protection from Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Burkina Faso. €20 million will be dedicated to improving access to social and protection services for vulnerable migrants in transit countries in the Sahel region and the Lake Chad basin. €15 million will go to supporting sustainable reintegration for Ethiopian citizens.

      A recent report by the Bundestag Research Services on SAR operations in the Mediterranean notes the support for the Libyan Coast Guard by EU and Member States in bringing refugees and migrants back to Libya may be violating the principle of non-refoulement as outlined in the Geneva Convention: “This cooperation must be the subject of proceedings before the European Court of Human Rights, because the people who are being forcibly returned with the assistance of the EU are being inhumanely treated, tortured or killed.” stated Andrej Hunko, European policy spokesman for the German Left Party (die Linke). A joint statement released by SAR NGO’s operating in the Mediterranean calls on the EU institutions and leaders to stop the financing and support of the Libyan Coast Guard and the readmissions to a third country which violates fundamental human rights and international law.

      According to UNHCR, there are currently 46,730 registered refugees and asylum seekers in Libya. 843 asylum seekers and refugees have been released from detention so far in 2018. According to IOM 9,379 people have been returned to their countries of origin since November 2017 and 1,211 have been evacuated to Niger since December 2017.

      https://www.ecre.org/libya-migrants-and-refugees-out-by-plane-and-in-by-boat

      Complément de Emmanuel Blanchard (via la mailing-list Migreurop):

      Selon le HCR, il y aurait actuellement environ 6000 personnes détenues dans des camps en Libye et qui seraient en attente de retour ou de protection (la distinction n’est pas toujours très claire dans la prose du HCR sur les personnes à « évacuer » vers le HCR...). Ces données statistiques sont très fragiles et a priori très sous-estimées car fondées sur les seuls camps auxquels le HCR a accès.

    • First group of refugees evacuated from new departure facility in Libya

      UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, in coordination with Libyan authorities, evacuated 133 refugees from Libya to Niger today after hosting them at a Gathering and Departure Facility (GDF) in Tripoli which opened on Tuesday.

      Most evacuees, including 81 women and children, were previously detained in Libya. After securing their release from five detention centres across Libya, including in Tripoli and areas as far as 180 kilometres from the capital, they were sheltered at the GDF until the arrangements for their evacuation were concluded.

      The GDF is the first centre of its kind in Libya and is intended 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 opening of this centre, in very difficult circumstances, has the potential to save lives. 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,” said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.

      The centre is managed by the Libyan Ministry of Interior, UNHCR and UNHCR’s partner LibAid. The initiative is one of a range of measures needed to offer viable alternatives to the dangerous boat journeys undertaken by refugees and migrants along the Central Mediterranean route.

      With an estimated 4,900 refugees and migrants held in detention centres across Libya, including 3,600 in need of international protection, the centre is a critical alternative to the detention of those most vulnerable.

      The centre, which has been supported by the EU and other donors, has a capacity to shelter up to 1,000 vulnerable refugees identified for solutions out of Libya.

      At the facility, UNHCR and partners are providing humanitarian assistance such as accommodation, food, medical care and psychosocial support. Child friendly spaces and dedicated protection staff are also available to ensure that refugees and asylum-seekers are adequately cared for.

      https://www.unhcr.org/news/press/2018/12/5c09033a4/first-group-refugees-evacuated-new-departure-facility-libya.html

    • Migration : à Niamey, des migrants rapatriés de Libye protestent contre leurs conditions de séjour

      Les manifestants protestent contre leur détention de vie qu’ils jugent « déplorables » et pour amplifier leurs mouvements, ils ont brandi des pancartes sur lesquelles ils ont écrit leurs doléances. Les migrants manifestant s’indignent également de leur séjour qui ne cesse de se prolonger, sans véritable alternatives ou visibilité sur leur situation. « Ils nous ont ramené de la Libye pour nous laisser à nous-mêmes ici », « on ne veut pas rester ici, laisser nous partir là où on veut », sont entre autres les slogans que les migrants ont scandés au cours de leur sit-in devant les locaux de l’agence onusienne. Plusieurs des protestataires sont venus à la manifestation avec leurs bagages et d’autres avec leurs différents papiers, qui attestent de leur situation de réfugiés ou demandeurs d’asiles.

      La situation, quoique déplorable, n’a pas manqué de susciter divers commentaires. Il faut dire que depuis le début de l’opération de rapatriement des migrants en détresse de Libye, ils sont des centaines à vivre dans la capitale mais aussi à Agadez où des centres d’accueil sont mis à leurs dispositions par les agences onusiennes (UNHCR, OIM), avec la collaboration des autorités nigériennes. Un certain temps, leur présence de plus en plus massive dans divers quartiers de la capitale où des villas sont mises à leur disposition, a commencé à inquiéter les habitants sur d’éventuels risques sécuritaires.

      Le gouvernement a signé plusieurs accords et adopté des lois pour lutter contre l’immigration clandestine. Il a aussi signé des engagements avec certains pays européens notamment la France et l’Italie, pour l’accueil temporaire des réfugiés en provenance de la Libye et en transit en attendant leur réinstallation dans leur pays ou en Europe pour ceux qui arrivent à obtenir le sésame pour l’entrée. Un geste de solidarité décrié par certaines ONG et que les autorités regrettent presque à demi-mot, du fait du non-respect des contreparties financières promises par les bailleurs et partenaires européens. Le pays fait face lui-même à un afflux de réfugiés nigérians et maliens sur son territoire, ainsi que des déplacés internes dans plusieurs régions, ce qui complique davantage la tâche dans cette affaire de difficile gestion de la problématique migratoire.

      Le Niger accueille plusieurs centres d’accueil pour les réfugiés et demandeurs d’asiles rapatriés de Libye. Le 10 décembre dernier, l’OFPRA français a par exemple annoncé avoir achevé une nouvelle mission au Niger avec l’UNHCR, et qui a concerné 200 personnes parmi lesquelles une centaine évacuée de Libye. En novembre dernier, le HCR a également annoncé avoir repris les évacuations de migrants depuis la Libye, avec un contingent de 132 réfugiés et demandeurs d’asiles vers le Niger.

      Depuis novembre 2017, le HCR a assuré avoir effectué vingt-trois (23) opérations d’évacuation au départ de la Libye et ce, « malgré d’importants problèmes de sécurité et les restrictions aux déplacements qui ont été imposées ». En tout, ce sont 2.476 réfugiés et demandeurs d’asile vulnérables qui ont pu être libérés et acheminés de la Libye vers le Niger (2.069), l’Italie (312) et la Roumanie (95).


      https://www.actuniger.com/societe/14640-migration-a-niamey-des-migrants-rapatries-de-libye-protestent-contr

      Je découvre ici que les évacuations se sont faites aussi vers l’#Italie et... la #Roumanie !

    • Destination Europe: Evacuation. The EU has started resettling refugees from Libya, but only 174 have made it to Europe in seven months

      As the EU sets new policies and makes deals with African nations to deter hundreds of thousands of migrants from seeking new lives on the continent, what does it mean for those following dreams northwards and the countries they transit through? From returnees in Sierra Leone and refugees resettled in France to smugglers in Niger and migrants in detention centres in Libya, IRIN explores their choices and challenges in this multi-part special report, Destination Europe.

      Four years of uncontrolled migration starting in 2014 saw more than 600,000 people cross from Libya to Italy, contributing to a populist backlash that is threatening the foundations of the EU. Stopping clandestine migration has become one of Europe’s main foreign policy goals, and last July the number of refugees and migrants crossing the central Mediterranean dropped dramatically. The EU celebrated the reduced numbers as “good progress”.

      But, as critics pointed out, that was only half the story: the decline, resulting from a series of moves by the EU and Italy, meant that tens of thousands of people were stuck in Libya with no way out. They faced horrific abuse, and NGOs and human rights organisations accused the EU of complicity in the violations taking place.

      Abdu is one who got stuck. A tall, lanky teenager, he spent nearly two years in smugglers’ warehouses and official Libyan detention centres. But he’s also one of the lucky ones. In February, he boarded a flight to Niger run (with EU support) by the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, to help some of those stranded in Libya reach Europe. Nearly 1,600 people have been evacuated on similiar flights, but, seven months on, only 174 have been resettled to Europe.

      The evacuation programme is part of a €500-million ($620-million) effort to resettle 50,000 refugees over the next two years to the EU, which has a population of more than 500 million people. The target is an increase from previous European resettlement goals, but still only represents a tiny fraction of the need – those chosen can be Syrians in Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon as well as refugees in Libya, Egypt, Niger, Chad, Sudan, and Ethiopia – countries that combined host more than 6.5 million refugees.

      The EU is now teetering on the edge of a fresh political crisis, with boats carrying people rescued from the sea being denied ports of disembarkation, no consensus on how to share responsibility for asylum seekers and refugees within the continent, and increasing talk of further outsourcing the management of migration to African countries.

      Against this backdrop, the evacuation and resettlement programme from Libya is perhaps the best face of European policy in the Mediterranean. But, unless EU countries offer more spots for refugees, it is a pathway to safety for no more than a small handful who get the luck of the draw. As the first evacuees adjust to their new lives in Europe, the overwhelming majority are left behind.

      Four months after arriving in Niger, Abdu is still waiting to find out if and when he will be resettled to Europe. He’s still in the same state of limbo he was in at the end of March when IRIN met him in Niamey, the capital of Niger. At the time, he’d been out of the detention centre in Libya for less than a month and his arms were skeletally thin.

      “I thought to go to Europe [and] failed. Now, I came to Niger…. What am I doing here? What will happen from here? I don’t know,” he said, sitting in the shade of a canopy in the courtyard of a UNHCR facility. “I don’t know what I will be planning for the future because everything collapsed; everything finished.”
      Abdu’s story

      Born in Eritrea – one of the most repressive countries in the world – Abdu’s mother sent him to live in neighbouring Sudan when he was only seven. She wanted him to grow up away from the political persecution and shadow of indefinite military service that stifled normal life in his homeland.

      But Sudan, where he was raised by his uncle, wasn’t much better. As an Eritrean refugee, he faced discrimination and lived in a precarious legal limbo. Abdu saw no future there. “So I decided to go,” he said.

      Like so many other young Africans fleeing conflict, political repression, and economic hardship in recent years, he wanted to try to make it to Europe. But first he had to pass through Libya.

      After crossing the border from Sudan in July 2016, Abdu, then 16 years old, was taken captive and held for 18 months. The smugglers asked for a ransom of $5,500, tortured him while his relatives were forced to listen on the phone, and rented him out for work like a piece of equipment.

      Abdu tried to escape, but only found himself under the control of another smuggler who did the same thing. He was kept in overflowing warehouses, sequestered from the sunlight with around 250 other people. The food was not enough and often spoiled; disease was rampant; people died from malaria and hunger; one woman died after giving birth; the guards drank, carried guns, and smoked hashish, and, at the smallest provocation, spun into a sadistic fury. Abdu’s skin started crawling with scabies, his cheeks sank in, and his long limbs withered to skin and bones.

      One day, the smuggler told him that, if he didn’t find a way to pay, it looked like he would soon die. As a courtesy – or to try to squeeze some money out of him instead of having to deal with a corpse – the smuggler reduced the ransom to $1,500.

      Finally, Abdu’s relatives were able to purchase his freedom and passage to Europe. It was December 2017. As he finally stood on the seashore before dawn in the freezing cold, Abdu remembered thinking: “We are going to arrive in Europe [and] get protection [and] get rights.”

      But he never made it. After nearly 24 hours at sea, the rubber dinghy he was on with around 150 other people was intercepted by the Libyan Coast Guard, which, since October 2016, has been trained and equipped by the EU and Italy.

      Abdu was brought back to the country he had just escaped and put in another detention centre.

      This one was official – run by the Libyan Directorate for Combating Irregular Migration. But it wasn’t much different from the smuggler-controlled warehouses he’d been in before. Again, it was overcrowded and dirty. People were falling sick. There was no torture or extortion, but the guards could be just as brutal. If someone tried to talk to them about the poor conditions “[they are] going to beat you until you are streaming blood,” Abdu said.

      Still, he wasn’t about to try his luck on his own again in Libya. The detention centre wasn’t suitable for human inhabitants, Abdu recalled thinking, but it was safer than anywhere he’d been in over a year. That’s where UNHCR found him and secured his release.

      The lucky few

      The small village of Thal-Marmoutier in France seems like it belongs to a different world than the teeming detention centres of Libya.

      The road to the village runs between gently rolling hills covered in grapevines and winds through small towns of half-timbered houses. About 40 minutes north of Strasbourg, the largest city in the region of Alsace, bordering Germany, it reaches a valley of hamlets that disrupt the green countryside with their red, high-peaked roofs. It’s an unassuming setting, but it’s the type of place Abdu might end up if and when he is finally resettled.

      In mid-March, when IRIN visited, the town of 800 people was hosting the first group of refugees evacuated from Libya.

      It was unseasonably cold, and the 55 people housed in a repurposed section of a Franciscan convent were bundled in winter jackets, scarves, and hats. Thirty of them had arrived from Chad, where they had been long-time residents of refugee camps after fleeing Boko Haram violence or conflict in the Sudanese region of Darfur. The remaining 25 – from Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Sudan – were the first evacuees from Libya. Before reaching France, they, like Abdu, had been flown to Niamey.

      The extra stop is necessary because most countries require refugees to be interviewed in person before offering them a resettlement spot. The process is facilitated by embassies and consulates, but, because of security concerns, only one European country (Italy) has a diplomatic presence in Libya.

      To resettle refugees stuck in detention centres, UNHCR needed to find a third country willing to host people temporarily, one where European resettlement agencies could carry out their procedures. Niger was the first – and so far only – country to volunteer.

      “For us, it is an obligation to participate,” Mohamed Bazoum, Niger’s influential interior minister, said when interviewed by IRIN in Niamey. Niger, the gateway between West Africa and Libya on the migration trail to Europe, is the top recipient of funds from the EU Trust Fund for Africa, an initiative launched in 2015 to “address the root causes of irregular migration”.

      “It costs us nothing to help,” Bazoum added, referring to the evacuation programme. “But we gain a sense of humanity in doing so.”

      ‘Time is just running from my life’

      The first evacuees landed in Niamey on 12 November. A little over a month later, on 19 December, they were on their way to France.

      By March, they had been in Thal-Marmoutier for three months and were preparing to move from the reception centre in the convent to individual apartments in different cities.

      Among them, several families with children had been living in Libya for a long time. But most of the evacuees were young women who had been imprisoned by smugglers and militias, held in official detention centres, or often both.

      “In Libya, it was difficult for me,” said Farida, a 24-year-old aspiring runner from Ethiopia. She fled her home in 2016 because of the conflict between the government and the Oromo people, an ethnic group.

      After a brief stay in Cairo, she and her husband decided to go to Libya because they heard a rumour that UNHCR was providing more support there to refugees. Shortly after crossing the border, Farida and her husband were captured by a militia and placed in a detention centre.

      “People from the other government (Libya has two rival governments) came and killed the militiamen, and some of the people in the prison also died, but we got out and were taken to another prison,” she said. “When they put me in prison, I was pregnant, and they beat me and killed the child in my belly.”

      Teyba, a 20-year-old woman also from Ethiopia, shared a similar story: “A militia put us in prison and tortured us a lot,” she said. “We stayed in prison for a little bit more than a month, and then the fighting started…. Some people died, some people escaped, and some people, I don’t know what happened to them.”

      Three months at the reception centre in Thal-Marmoutier had done little to ease the trauma of those experiences. “I haven’t seen anything that made me laugh or that made me happy,” Farida said. “Up to now, life has not been good, even after coming to France.”

      The French government placed the refugees in the reception centre to expedite their asylum procedures, and so they could begin to learn French.

      Everyone in the group had already received 10-year residency permits – something refugees who are placed directly in individual apartments or houses usually wait at least six months to receive. But many of them said they felt like their lives had been put on pause in Thal-Marmoutier. They were isolated in the small village with little access to transportation and said they had not been well prepared to begin new lives on their own in just a few weeks time.

      “I haven’t benefited from anything yet. Time is just running from my life,” said Intissar, a 35-year-old woman from Sudan.

      A stop-start process

      Despite their frustrations with the integration process in France, and the still present psychological wounds from Libya, the people in Thal-Marmoutier were fortunate to reach Europe.

      By early March, more than 1,000 people had been airlifted from Libya to Niger. But since the first group in December, no one else had left for Europe. Frustrated with the pace of resettlement, the Nigerien government told UNHCR that the programme had to be put on hold.

      “We want the flow to be balanced,” Bazoum, the interior minister, explained. “If people arrive, then we want others to leave. We don’t want people to be here on a permanent basis.”

      Since then, an additional 148 people have been resettled to France, Switzerland, Sweden and the Netherlands, and other departures are in the works. “The situation is improving,” said Louise Donovan, a UNHCR communications officer in Niger. “We need to speed up our processes as much as possible, and so do the resettlement countries.”

      A further 312 people were evacuated directly to Italy. Still, the total number resettled by the programme remains small. “What is problematic right now is the fact that European governments are not offering enough places for resettlement, despite continued requests from UNHCR,” said Matteo de Bellis, a researcher with Amnesty International.
      Less than 1 percent

      Globally, less than one percent of refugees are resettled each year, and resettlement is on a downward spiral at the moment, dropping by more than 50 percent between 2016 and 2017. The number of refugees needing resettlement is expected to reach 1.4 million next year, 17 percent higher than in 2018, while global resettlement places dropped to just 75,000 in 2017, UNHCR said on Monday.

      The Trump administration’s slashing of the US refugee admissions programme – historically the world’s leader – means this trend will likely continue.

      Due to the limited capacity, resettlement is usually reserved for people who are considered to be the most vulnerable.

      In Libya alone, there are around 19,000 refugees from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Sudan registered with UNHCR – a number increasing each month – as well as 430,000 migrants and potential asylum seekers from throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Many have been subjected to torture, sexual violence, and other abuses. And, because they are in Libya irregularly, resettlement is often the only legal solution to indefinite detention.

      In the unlikely scenario that all the sub-Saharan refugees in Libya were to be resettled, they would account for more than one third of the EU’s quota for the next two years. And that’s not taking into account people in Libya who may have legitimate grounds to claim asylum but are not on the official radar. Other solutions are clearly needed, but given the lack of will in the international community, it is unclear what those might be.

      “The Niger mechanism is a patch, a useful one under the circumstance, but still a patch,” de Bellis, the Amnesty researcher, said. “There are refugees… who cannot get out of the detention centres because there are no resettlement places available to them.”

      It is also uncertain what will happen to any refugees evacuated to Niger that aren’t offered a resettlement spot by European countries.

      UNHCR says it is considering all options, including the possibility of integration in Niger or return to their countries of origin – if they are deemed to be safe and people agree to go. But resettlement is the main focus. In April, the pace of people departing for Europe picked up, and evacuations from Libya resumed at the beginning of May – ironically, the same week the Nigerien government broke new and dangerous ground by deporting 132 Sudanese asylum seekers who had crossed the border on their own back to Libya.

      For the evacuees in Niger awaiting resettlement, there are still many unanswered questions.

      As Abdu was biding his time back in March, something other than the uncertainty about his own future weighed on him: the people still stuck in the detention centres in Libya.

      He had started his travels with his best friend. They had been together when they were first kidnapped and held for ransom. But Abdu’s friend was shot in the leg by a guard who accused him of stealing a cigarette. When Abdu tried to escape, he left his friend behind and hasn’t spoken to him or heard anything about him since.

      “UNHCR is saying they are going to find a solution for me; they are going to help me,” Abdu said. “It’s okay. But what about the others?”

      https://www.irinnews.org/special-report/2018/06/26/destination-europe-evacuation

    • Hot Spots #1 : Niger, les évacués de l’enfer libyen

      Fuir l’enfer libyen, sortir des griffes des trafiquants qui séquestrent pendant des mois leurs victimes dans des conditions inhumaines. C’est de l’autre côté du désert, au Niger, que certains migrants trouvent un premier refuge grâce à un programme d’#évacuation d’urgence géré par les Nations Unies depuis novembre 2017.

      https://guitinews.fr/video/2019/03/12/hot-spots-1-niger-les-evacues-de-lenfer-libyen

      Lien vers la #vidéo :

      « Les gens qu’on évacue de la Libye, ce sont des individus qui ont subi une profonde souffrance. Ce sont tous des victimes de torture, des victimes de violences aussi sexuelles, il y a des femmes qui accouchent d’enfants fruits de cette violences sexuelles. » Alexandra Morelli, Représentante du HCR au Niger.

      https://vimeo.com/323299304

      ping @isskein @karine4

  • Fuir une dictature et mourir de faim en Italie, après avoir traversé la Méditerranée et passé des mois dans des centres en Libye.
    10 personnes à ses funérailles.
    Et l’Europe n’a pas honte.

    Ragusa, il funerale dell’eritreo morto di fame dopo la traversata verso l’Italia

    Il parroco di Modica: «Di lui sappiamo solo che è un nostro fratello»


    http://palermo.repubblica.it/cronaca/2018/03/20/news/ragusa_il_funerale_dell_eritreo_morto_di_fame_dopo_la_traversata_
    #mourir_de_faim #faim #Libye #torture #asile #migrations #fermeture_des_frontières #Méditerranée

    • Nawal Sos a décidé de faire un travail de récolte de témoignage de personnes qui ont vécu l’#enfer libyen, suite à la saisie du bateau de l’ONG Open Arms en Méditerranée.

      Pour celles et ceux qui ne connaissent pas Nawal :
      https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nawal_Soufi

      Voici le premier témoignage qu’elle a publié sur FB, que je copie-colle de la page web de Nawal :

      Questa e’ la testimonianza del primo rifugiato che ha dato la disponibilita’ a comparire davanti a qualsiasi corte italiana per raccontare i suoi giorni passati tra gli scafisti in Libia.

      Il 9 aprile del 2015 sono arrivato a casa dello scafista. Da casa sua sono partito via mare il 4 maggio del 2015. Erano le due di notte. In questo periodo le mie condizioni di salute erano particolari ed ero con uno/due ragazzi. Gli altri stavano peggio di me, dentro delle stanze dove la capienza era di dieci persone e in cui venivano rinchiuse settanta/ottanta/cento persone. Ci veniva dato solamente un pasto a giornata ed esso era composto da pane e acqua. L’acqua non bastava per tutti. Non c’erano servizi igienici per fare i propri bisogni. Prima dell’arrivo alla casa dello scafista viene raccontato che la situazione sarà perfetta e la casa grande in modo da garantire le migliori condizioni e che esiste un accordo con la guardia costiera. Appena si arriva a casa dello scafista si trovano altre condizioni. Una delle promesse che erano state fatte era quella di partire in poche ore, al massimo ventiquattro via mare. La verità è però che è necessario aspettare in base agli accordi con la guardia costiera: se vengono raggiunti dopo una settimana si parte dopo una settimana altrimenti è necessario aspettare fino a un mese, come è stato per me. Se una persona paga molto gli verrà fornito un salvagente altrimenti bisognerà affrontare il viaggio senza. Qualcuno portava con sé il salvagente mentre altri credevano alle parole dello scafista e non lo portavano. Anche sul salvagente cominciavano le false promesse: «Domani vi porteremo i salvagenti..». A seguito di queste promesse iniziavano a farsi strada delle tensioni con lo scafista. Le barche di legno su cui avremmo dovuto viaggiare erano a due piani: nel piano di sotto vi era la sala motore dov’è lo spazio per ogni essere umano non supera 30 x 30 cm massimo 40. Mettevano le persone una sopra l’altra. Le persone che venivano messe sotto erano le persone che pagavano di meno. Ovviamente lo scafista aveva tutto l’interesse di mettere in questo spazio il maggior numero di persone possibili per guadagnare sempre più con la scusante di usare questo guadagno per pagare la guardia costiera libica, la manutenzione della barca e altre persone necessarie per partire. Proprio nella sala motore ci sono stati vari casi di morti. La maggior parte della barche veniva comprata da Ras Agedir e Ben Gerdan, in Tunisia. Le barche arrivavano dalla Tunisia in pieno giorno, passando dalla dogana senza essere tassate né controllate. Le barche venivano portate al porto e ristrutturate davanti agli occhi di tutti. Una volta riempite le barche venivano fatte partire in pieno giorno (dalle prime ore del mattino fino alle due del pomeriggio) senza essere fermate dalla guardia costiera libica. Le uniche a essere fermate erano quelle degli scafisti che non pagavano mazzette ed esse venivano riportate indietro e i migranti arrestati. La guardia costiera chiedeva poi un riscatto allo scafista per liberare le persone. Così facendo lo obbligavano la volta dopo a pagare una mazzetta prima di far partire le sue imbarcazioni.
      In un caso molti siriani erano saliti su quella che chiamavamo «l’imbarcazione dei medici». Questi medici avevano comprato la barca per partire senza pagare gli scafisti ed erano partiti. A bordo c’erano 80/100 persone. Sono stati seguiti da individui non identificati che gli hanno sparato contro causando la morte di tutte le persone a bordo. Non si sa se siano stati degli scafisti o la guardia costiera.
      I contatti tra la guardia costiera libica e gli scafisti risultano evidenti nel momento in cui le persone fermate in mare e riportate a terra vengono liberate tramite pagamento di un riscatto da parte degli scafisti. Queste stesse persone riescono poi a partire con lo stesso scafista via mare senza essere fermate.
      In Libia, dove ho vissuto due anni, le condizioni di vita sono molto difficili. Gli stessi libici hanno iniziato a lottare per ottenere qualcosa da mangiare e per me, in quanto siriano senza possibilità di andare da qualsiasi altra parte, l’unica cosa importante era poter lavorare e vivere. Conosco molti ingegneri e molti professionisti che hanno lasciato la loro vita per venire in Libia a fare qualsiasi tipo di lavoro pur di sopravvivere. Non avevo quindi altra soluzione se non quella di partire via mare verso l’Europa. Sono partito e sono arrivato a Lampedusa e da lì ho raggiunto Catania.

      https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=580561452301350&id=100010425011901
      J’espère voir les autres témoignages aussi... mais elle les publie sur FB, du coup, je pense que je vais certainement ne pas tout voir.

    • Deuxième témoignage :

      Questa e’ la seconda persona che ha dato la sua disponibilita’ a comparire di fronte a qualsiasi Corte italiana per raccontare il suo viaggio e forse altri compagni di viaggio che erane nella stessa barca si uniranno a lui.
      Testimonianza di: Ragazzo Palestinese di Gaza
      (Per ovvi motivi non posso citare in nome qui)

      Traduzione in italiano:

      Per quanto riguarda il traffico degli esseri umani avviene tra Zebrata e Zuara in Libia. Tra i trafficanti e la guardia costiera libica c’è un accordo di pagamento per far partire le imbarcazioni. Al trafficante che non paga la guardia costiera gli viene affondata l’imbarcazione. La squadra della guardia costiera che fa questi accordi e’ quella di Al Anqaa’ العنقاء appartenente alla zona di Ezzawi. Otto mesi fa siamo partiti da Zebrata e siamo stati rapiti dalla guardia costiera libica. Dopo il rapimento abbiamo detto loro che siamo partiti tramite lo scafista che si chiama Ahmed Dabbashi. E la risposta della guardia costiera è stata: se solo ci aveste detto che eravate partiti tramite lo scafista Ahmed Debbash tutto ciò non sarebbe successo.

      Je n’arrive pas à copier-coller le link FB (arrghhh)

    • Time to Investigate European Agents for Crimes against Migrants in Libya

      In March 2011, the ICC Office of the Prosecutor of the international criminal court opened its investigation into the situation in Libya, following a referral by the UN Security Council. The investigation concerns crimes against humanity in Libya starting 15 February 2011, including the crimes against humanity of murder and persecution, allegedly committed by Libyan agents. As the ICC Prosecutor explained to the UN Security Council in her statement of 8 May 2017, the investigation also concerns “serious and widespread crimes against migrants attempting to transit through Libya.” Fatou Bensouda labels Libya as a “marketplace for the trafficking of human beings.” As she says, “thousands of vulnerable migrants, including women and children, are being held in detention centres across Libya in often inhumane condition.” The findings are corroborated by the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNMSIL) and the Panel of Experts established pursuant to Resolution 1973 (2011). Both report on the atrocities to which migrants are subjected, not only by armed militias, smugglers and traffickers, but also by the new Libyan Coast Guard and the Department for Combatting Illegal Migration of the UN-backed Al Sarraj’s Government of National Accord – established with EU and Italian support.

      https://www.ejiltalk.org/time-to-investigate-european-agents-for-crimes-against-migrants-in-libya

    • UN report details scale and horror of detention in Libya

      Armed groups in Libya, including those affiliated with the State, hold thousands of people in prolonged arbitrary and unlawful detention, and submit them to torture and other human rights violations and abuses, according to a UN report published on Tuesday.

      “Men, women and children across Libya are arbitrarily detained or unlawfully deprived of their liberty based on their tribal or family links and perceived political affiliations,” the report by the UN Human Rights Office says. “Victims have little or no recourse to judicial remedy or reparations, while members of armed groups enjoy total impunity.”

      “This report lays bare not only the appalling abuses and violations experienced by Libyans deprived of their liberty, but the sheer horror and arbitrariness of such detentions, both for the victims and their families,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein. “These violations and abuses need to stop – and those responsible for such crimes should be held fully to account.”

      Since renewed hostilities broke out in 2014, armed groups on all sides have rounded up suspected opponents, critics, activists, medical professionals, journalists and politicians, the report says. Hostage-taking for prisoner exchanges or ransom is also common. Those detained arbitrarily or unlawfully also include people held in relation to the 2011 armed conflict - many without charge, trial or sentence for over six years.

      The report, published in cooperation with the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), summarizes the main human rights concerns regarding detention in Libya since the signing of the Libyan Political Agreement (LPA) on 17 December 2015 until 1 January 2018. The implementation of provisions in the LPA to address the situation of people detained arbitrarily for prolonged periods of time has stalled, it notes.

      “Rather than reining in armed groups and integrating their members under State command and control structures, successive Libyan governments have increasingly relied on them for law enforcement, including arrests and detention; paid them salaries; and provided them with equipment and uniforms,” the report says. As a result, their power has grown unchecked and they have remained free of effective government oversight.

      Some 6,500 people were estimated to be held in official prisons overseen by the Judicial Police of the Ministry of Justice, as of October 2017. There are no available statistics for facilities nominally under the Ministries of Interior and Defence, nor for those run directly by armed groups.

      “These facilities are notorious for endemic torture and other human rights violations or abuses,” the report says. For example, the detention facility at Mitiga airbase in Tripoli holds an estimated 2,600 men, women and children, most without access to judicial authorities. In Kuweifiya prison, the largest detention facility in eastern Libya, some 1,800 people are believed to be held.

      Armed groups routinely deny people any contact with the outside world when they are first detained. “Distraught families search for their detained family members, travel to known detention facilities, plead for the help of acquaintances with connections to armed groups, security or intelligence bodies, and exchange information with other families of detainees or missing persons,” the report highlights.

      There have also been consistent allegations of deaths in custody. The bodies of hundreds of individuals taken and held by armed groups have been uncovered in streets, hospitals, and rubbish dumps, many with bound limbs and marks of torture and gunshot wounds.

      “The widespread prolonged arbitrary and unlawful detention and endemic human rights abuses in custody in Libya require urgent action by the Libyan authorities, with support from the international community,” the report says. Such action needs to provide redress to victims and their families, and to prevent the repetition of such crimes.

      “As a first step, the State and non-State actors that effectively control territory and exercise government-like functions must release those detained arbitrarily or otherwise unlawfully deprived of their liberty. All those lawfully detained must be transferred to official prisons under effective and exclusive State control,” it says.

      The report calls on the authorities to publicly and unequivocally condemn torture, ill-treatment and summary executions of those detained, and ensure accountability for such crimes.

      “Failure to act will not only inflict additional suffering on thousands of detainees and their families and lead to further loss of life. It will also be detrimental to any stabilization, peacebuilding and reconciliation efforts,” it concludes.

      http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=22931&LangID=E

      Lien vers le #rapport du #OHCHR :


      http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/LY/AbuseBehindBarsArbitraryUnlawful_EN.pdf
      #détention_arbitraire #torture #décès #morts #détention

    • L’inferno libico nelle poesie di #Segen

      #Tesfalidet_Tesfom è il vero nome del migrante eritreo morto il giorno dopo il suo sbarco a Pozzallo del 12 marzo dalla nave Proactiva della ong spagnola Open Arms. Dopo aver lottato tra la vita e la morte all’ospedale maggiore di Modica nel suo portafogli sono state ritrovate delle bellissime e strazianti poesie. In esclusiva su Vita.it la sua storia e le sue poesie


      http://www.vita.it/it/story/2018/04/10/linferno-libico-nelle-poesie-di-segen/210
      #poésie

      Les poésies de Segen :

      Non ti allarmare fratello mio
      Non ti allarmare fratello mio,
dimmi, non sono forse tuo fratello?

      Perché non chiedi notizie di me?
      
È davvero così bello vivere da soli,

      se dimentichi tuo fratello al momento del bisogno?
      Cerco vostre notizie e mi sento soffocare
      
non riesco a fare neanche chiamate perse,

      chiedo aiuto,
      
la vita con i suoi problemi provvisori
      
mi pesa troppo.
      Ti prego fratello, prova a comprendermi,
      
chiedo a te perché sei mio fratello,
      
ti prego aiutami,
      
perché non chiedi notizie di me, non sono forse tuo fratello?
      Nessuno mi aiuta,
      
e neanche mi consola,

      si può essere provati dalla difficoltà,
      
ma dimenticarsi del proprio fratello non fa onore,
      
il tempo vola con i suoi rimpianti,

      io non ti odio,

      ma è sempre meglio avere un fratello.
      No, non dirmi che hai scelto la solitudine,

      se esisti e perché ci sei
 con le tue false promesse,

      mentre io ti cerco sempre,
      saresti stato così crudele se fossimo stati figli dello stesso sangue?
      

Ora non ho nulla,
      
perché in questa vita nulla ho trovato,

      se porto pazienza non significa che sono sazio
      
perché chiunque avrà la sua ricompensa,
      
io e te fratello ne usciremo vittoriosi 
affidandoci a Dio.

      Tempo sei maestro
      Tempo sei maestro
      per chi ti ama e per chi ti è nemico,
      sai distiunguere il bene dal male,
      chi ti rispetta
      e chi non ti dà valore.
      Senza stancarti mi rendi forte,
      mi insegni il coraggio,
      quante salite e discese abbiamo affrontato,
      hai conquistato la vittoria
      ne hai fatto un capolavoro.
      Sei come un libro, l’archivio infinito del passato
      solo tu dirai chi aveva ragione e chi torto,
      perché conosci i caratteri di ognuno,
      chi sono i furbi, chi trama alle tue spalle,
      chi cerca una scusa,
      pensando che tu non li conosci.
      Vorrei dirti ciò che non rende l’uomo
      un uomo
      finché si sta insieme tutto va bene,
      ti dice di essere il tuo compagno d’infanzia
      ma nel momento del bisogno ti tradisce.
      Ogni giorno che passa, gli errori dell’uomo sono sempre di più,
      lontani dalla Pace,
      presi da Satana,
      esseri umani che non provano pietà
      o un po’ di pena,
      perché rinnegano la Pace
      e hanno scelto il male.
      Si considerano superiori, fanno finta di non sentire,
      gli piace soltanto apparire agli occhi del mondo.
      Quando ti avvicini per chiedere aiuto
      non ottieni nulla da loro,
      non provano neanche un minimo dispiacere,
      però gente mia, miei fratelli,
      una sola cosa posso dirvi:
      nulla è irragiungibile,
      sia che si ha tanto o niente,
      tutto si può risolvere
      con la fede in Dio.
      Ciao, ciao
      Vittoria agli oppressi

    • Vidéo : des migrants échappent à l’enfer libyen en lançant un appel sur #WhatsApp

      Un groupe de migrants nigérians enfermés dans un centre de détention à #Zaouïa, en Libye, est parvenu à filmer une vidéo montrant leurs conditions de vie et appelant à l’aide leur gouvernement en juillet 2018. Envoyée à un ami sur WhatsApp, elle est devenue virale et a été transmise aux Observateurs de France 24. L’organisation internationale pour les migrations a ensuite pu organiser un vol pour les rapatrier au Nigéria. Aujourd’hui sains et saufs, ils racontent ce qu’ils ont vécu.


      http://observers.france24.com/fr/20180928-libye-nigeria-migrants-appel-whatsapp-secours-oim-video
      #réseaux_sociaux #téléphone_portable #smartphone

      Commentaire de Emmanuel Blanchard via la mailing-list Migreurop :

      Au-delà du caractère exceptionnel et « spectaculaire » de cette vidéo, l’article montre bien en creux que les Etats européens et l’#OIM cautionnent et financent de véritables #geôles, sinon des centre de tortures. Le #centre_de_détention #Al_Nasr n’est en effet pas une de ces prisons clandestines tenues par des trafiquant d’êtres humains. Si les institutions et le droit ont un sens en Libye, ce centre est en effet « chapeauté par le gouvernement d’entente nationale libyen – soutenu par l’Occident – via son service de combat contre l’immigration illégale (#DCIM) ». L’OIM y effectue d’ailleurs régulièrement des actions humanitaires et semble y organiser des opérations de retour, telles qu’elles sont préconisées par les Etats européens voulant rendre hermétiques leurs frontières sud.
      Quant au DCIM, je ne sais pas si son budget est précisément connu mais il ne serait pas étonnant qu’il soit abondé par des fonds (d’Etats) européens.

      #IOM

    • ’He died two times’: African migrants face death in Libyan detention centres

      Most of those held in indefinite detention were intercepted in the Mediterranean by EU-funded Libyan coastguard.

      Four young refugees have died in Libya’s Zintan migrant detention centre since mid-September, according to other detainees, who say extremely poor conditions, including a lack of food and medical treatment, led to the deaths.

      The fatalities included a 22-year-old Eritrean man, who died last weekend, according to two people who knew him.

      Most of the refugees detained in centres run by Libya’s #Department_for-Combatting_Illegal_Immigration (#DCIM) were returned to Libya by the EU-backed coastguard, after trying to reach Europe this year.

      The centre in #Zintan, 180 km southwest of Tripoli, was one of the locations the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) moved refugees and migrants to after clashes broke out in the capital in August. Nearly 1,400 refugees and migrants were being held there in mid-September, according to UNHCR.

      “At this detention centre, we are almost forgotten,” detainee there said on Wednesday.

      Other aid organisations, including Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), criticised the decision to move detainees out of Tripoli at the time.

      “Transferring detainees from one detention centre to another within the same conflict zone cannot be described as an evacuation and it is certainly not a solution,” MSF Libya head of mission Ibrahim Younis said. “The resources and mechanisms exist to bring these people to third countries where their claims for asylum or repatriation can be duly processed. That’s what needs to happen right now, without delay. This is about saving lives.”

      UNHCR couldn’t confirm the reports, but Special Envoy for the Central Mediterranean, Vincent Cochetel, said: “I am saddened by the news of the alleged death of migrants and refugees in detention. Renewed efforts must be made by the Libyan authorities to provide alternatives to detention, to ensure that people are not detained arbitrarily and benefit from the legal safeguards and standards of treatment contained in the Libyan legislation and relevant international instruments Libya is party to.”

      The International Organisation for Migration (IOM), which also works in Libya, did not respond to a request for confirmation or comment. DCIM was not reachable.

      Tens of thousands of refugees and migrants have been locked in indefinite detention by Libyan authorities since Italy and Libya entered into a deal in February 2017, aimed at stopping Africans from reaching Europe across the Mediterranean.

      People in the centres are consistently deprived of food and water, according to more than a dozen detainees in touch with The National from centres across Tripoli. One centre holding more than 200 people has gone the last eight days without food, according to a man being held there.

      Sanitation facilities are poor and severe overcrowding is common. Though the majority of detainees are teenagers or in their twenties, many suffer from ongoing health problems caused or exacerbated by the conditions.

      Aid agencies and researchers in Libya say the lack of a centralised registration system for detainees makes it impossible to track the number of deaths that are happening across “official” Libyan detention centres.

      Earlier this month, a man in his twenties died in Triq al Sikka detention centre in Tripoli, Libya, from an illness that was either caused or exacerbated by the harsh conditions in the centre, as well as a lack of medical attention, according to two fellow detainees.

      One detainee in Triq al Sikka told The National that six others have died there this year, two after being taken to hospital and the rest inside the centre. Four were Eritrean, and three, including a woman, were from Somalia.

      Another former detainee from the same centre told The National he believes the death toll is much higher than that. Earlier this year, the Eritrean man said he tried to tell a UNHCR staff member about the deaths through the bars of the cell he was being held in, but he wasn’t sure if she was listening. The National received no response after contacting the staff member he named.


      https://www.thenational.ae/world/mena/he-died-two-times-african-migrants-face-death-in-libyan-detention-centre

    • Migranti torturati, violentati e lasciati morire in un centro di detenzione della polizia in Libia, tre fermi a Messina

      A riconoscere e denunciare i carcerieri sono state alcune delle vittime, arrivate in Italia con la nave Alex di Mediterranea. Per la prima volta viene contestato il reato di tortura. Patronaggio: «Crimini contro l’umanità, agire a livello internazionale». Gli orrori a #Zawiya, in una struttura ufficiale gestita dalle forze dell’ordine di Tripoli

      https://www.repubblica.it/cronaca/2019/09/16/news/migranti_torture_sui_profughi_in_libia_tre_fermi_a_messina-236123857
      #crimes_contre_l'humanité #viols #justice

    • Torture, rape and murder: inside Tripoli’s refugee detention camps

      Europe poured in aid to help migrants in Libya – but for thousands, life is still hellish and many prefer to risk staying on the streets

      Men press anxious faces against the chicken-wire fence of Triq-al-Sikka migrant detention camp in downtown Tripoli as I enter. “Welcome to hell,” says a Moroccan man, without a smile.

      Triq-al-Sikka is home to 300 men penned into nightmare conditions. Several who are sick lie motionless on dirty mattresses in the yard, left to die or recover in their own time. Three of the six toilets are blocked with sewage, and for many detainees, escape is out of the question as they have no shoes.

      It wasn’t supposed to be this way. After reports of torture and abuse in detention centres, and wanting to stop the flow of people across the Mediterranean, the European Union has since 2016 poured more than £110m into improving conditions for migrants in Libya. But things are now worse than before.

      Among the inmates is Mohammed, from Ghana. In July, he survived an air strike on another centre, in Tajoura on the capital’s south-western outskirts, that killed 53 of his fellow migrants. After surviving on the streets, last month he got a place on a rickety smuggler boat heading for Europe. But it was intercepted by the coastguard. Mohammed fell into the sea and was brought back to this camp. His blue jumper is still stained by sea salt. He is desperate to get word to his wife. “The last time we spoke was the night I tried to cross the sea,” he says. “The soldiers took my money and phone. My wife does not know where I am, whether I am alive or dead.”

      Triq-al-Sikka’s conditions are harsh, but other centres are worse. Inmates tell of camps where militias storm in at night, dragging migrants away to be ransomed back to their families. Tens of thousands of migrants are spread across this city, many sleeping in the streets. Dozens bed down each night under the arches of the city centre’s freeway. Since April, in a sharp escalation of the civil war, eastern warlord Khalifa Haftar has been trying to batter his way into the city in fighting that has left more than 1,000 dead and left tens of thousands of citizens homeless.

      Libya has known nothing but chaos since the 2011 revolution that overthrew Muammar Gaddafi. In 2014, a multi-sided civil war broke out. Taking advantage of this chaos, smugglers transformed Libya into a hub for migrants from three continents trying to reach Europe. But after more than half a million arrivals, European governments have tightened the rules.

      This clampdown is obvious at the gates of a nondescript fenced compound holding white shipping containers in the city centre. It is the UN’s refugee Gathering and Departure Facility, nicknamed Hotel GDF by the migrants. From here, a select few who qualify for asylum get flights via Niger and Rwanda to Europe. But there are 45,000 registered migrants, and in the past year only 2,300 seats on flights for migrants – which have now stopped altogether, with Europe offering no more places. Yet dozens line up outside each day hoping for that magical plane ticket.

      Among those clustered at the fence is Nafisa Saed Musa, 44, who has been a refugee for more than half her life: In 2003, her village in Sudan’s Darfur region was burned down. Her husband and two of her three sons were killed and she fled. After years spent in a series of African refugee camps with her son Abdullah, 27, she joined last year with 14 other Sudanese families, pooling their money, and headed for Libya.

      In southern Libya, Abdullah was arrested by a militia who demanded 5,000 dinars (£2,700) to release him. It took two months to raise the cash, and Abdullah shows marks of torture inflicted on him, some with a branding iron, some with cigarettes. They all left a charity shelter after local residents complained about the presence of migrants, and now Nafisa and her son sleep on the street on dirty mattresses, scrounging cardboard to protect from the autumnal rains, across the street from Hotel GDF. “I have only one dream: a dignified life. I dream of Europe for my son.”

      Nearby is Namia, from Sudan, cradling her six-month-old baby daughter, clad in a pink and white babygrow. Her husband was kidnapped by a militia in February and never seen again and she makes frequent trips here asking the UN to look for him. “I hope he is in a detention centre, I hope he is alive.”

      Last week, 200 migrants, kicked out of a detention camp in the south of Tripoli, marched on Hotel GDF and forced their way inside, joining 800 already camped there, in a base designed to hold a maximum of 600.

      The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, which administers the centre, says it has no more flights, unless outside states offer asylum places: “We cannot reinforce the asylum systems there because it is a country at war,” says UNHCR official Filippo Grandi.

      Meanwhile, escape by sea is being closed off, thanks to a controversial deal Italy made with Libya two years ago, in which Rome has paid €90m to train the coastguard. The deal has drastically cut arrivals in Italy from 181,000 in 2016 to 9,300 so far this year, with the coastguard intercepting most smuggling craft and sending migrants on board to detention camps.

      “We have collected testimonies of torture, rape and murder in detention camps,” says Oxfam’s Paolo Pezzati. “The agreement the Italian government signed with Libya in February 2017 has allowed these untold violations.”

      Rome has faced criticism because among the coastguard leaders whose units it funds is Abd al-Rahman Milad, despite his being accused by the UN of being involved in sinking migrant boats and collaborating with people-smugglers. Tripoli says it issued an arrest warrant against him in April, but this is news to Milad. Bearded, well-built and uniformed, he tells me he is back at work and is innocent: “I have nothing to do with trafficking, I am one of the best coastguards in Libya.”

      For migrants and Libyans alike, the outside world’s attitude is a puzzle: it sends aid and scolds Libya for mistreatment, yet offers no way out for migrants. “You see [UN officials] on television, shouting that they no longer want to see people die at sea. I wonder what is the difference between seeing them dying in the sea and letting them die in the middle of a street?” says Libyan Red Crescent worker Assad al-Jafeer, who tours the streets offering aid to migrants. “The men risk being kidnapped and forced to fight by militias, the women risk being taken away and sexually abused.”

      Recent weeks have seen nightly bombing in an air war waged with drones. Women, fearing rape, often sleep on the streets close to police stations for safety, but this brings new danger. “They think 50 metres from a police base is close enough to protect themselves,” says al-Jafeer. “But they are the first targets to be bombed.”

      Interior ministry official Mabrouk Abdelahfid was appointed six months ago and tasked with closing or improving detention centres, but admits reform is slow. He says many camps are outside government control and that the UN has provided no alternative housing for migrants when camps close: “We have already closed three [detention] centres. We believe that in the nine centres under our formal control there are more or less 6,000 people.”

      A common theme among migrants here is a crushing sense of being unwanted and of no value, seen even by aid agencies as an inconvenience. For now, migrants can only endure, with no end in sight for the war. Haftar and Tripoli’s defenders continue slugging it out along a front line snaking through the southern suburbs and few diplomats expect a breakthrough at peace talks being hosted in Berlin later this month.

      Outside Hotel GDF, dusk signals the end of another day with no news of flights and the migrants trudge away to sleep on the streets. To the south, the flashes from the night’s bombardment light up the sky.

      https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/03/libya-migrants-tripoli-refugees-detention-camps?CMP=share_btn_tw

    • Torture nei campi di detenzione: le nuove immagini choc

      Donna appesa a testa in giù e presa a bastonate: le cronache dell’orrore dal lager di #Bani_Walid, in Libia. Sei morti in due mesi. Spuntano i nomi degli schiavisti: «Ci stuprano e ci uccidono»

      Una giovane eritrea appesa a testa in giù urla mentre viene bastonata ripetutamente nella «#black_room», la sala delle torture presente in molti centri libici per migranti. Il video choc - di cui riportiamo solo alcuni fermo immagine - è stato spedito via smartphone ai familiari della sventurata che devono trovare i soldi per riscattarla e salvarle la vita.
      È quello che accade a Bani Walid, centro di detenzione informale, in mano alle milizie libiche. Ma anche nei centri ufficiali di detenzione, dove i detenuti sono sotto la «protezione» delle autorità di Tripoli pagata dall’Ue e dall’Italia: la situazione sta precipitando con cibo scarso, nessuna assistenza medica, corruzione. In Libia l’Unhcr ha registrato 40mila rifugiati e richiedenti asilo, 6mila dei quali sono rinchiusi nel sistema formato dai 12 centri di detenzione ufficiali, il resto in centri come Bani Walid o in strada. In tutto, stima il «Global detention project», vi sarebbero 33 galere. Vi sono anche detenuti soprattutto africani non registrati la cui stima è impossibile.

      La vita della ragazza del Corno d’Africa appesa, lo abbiamo scritto sette giorni fa, vale 12.500 dollari. Ma nessuno interviene e continuano le cronache dell’orrore da Bani Walid, unanimente considerato il più crudele luogo di tortura della Libia. Un altro detenuto eritreo è morto qui negli ultimi giorni per le torture inferte con bastone, coltello e scariche elettriche perché non poteva pagare. In tutto fanno sei morti in due mesi. Stavolta non siamo riusciti a conoscere le sue generalità e a dargli almeno dignità nella morte. Quando si apre la connessione con l’inferno vicino a noi, arrivano sullo smartphone con il ronzio di un messaggio foto disumane e disperate richieste di aiuto, parole di angoscia e terrore che in Italia e nella Ue abbiamo ignorato girando la testa o incolpando addirittura le vittime.

      «Mangiamo un pane al giorno e uno alla sera, beviamo un bicchiere d’acqua sporca a testa. Non ci sono bagni», scrive uno di loro in un inglese stentato. «Fate in fretta, aiutateci, siamo allo stremo», prosegue. Il gruppo dei 66 prigionieri eritrei che da oltre due mesi è nelle mani dei trafficanti libici si è ridotto a 60 persone stipate nel gruppo di capannoni che formano il mega centro di detenzione in campagna nel quartiere di Tasni al Harbi, alla periferia della città della tribù dei Warfalla, situata nel distretto di Misurata, circa 150 chilometri a sud-est di Tripoli. Lager di proprietà dei trafficanti, inaccessibile all’Unhcr in un crocevia delle rotte migratorie da sud (Sebha) ed est (Kufra) per raggiungere la costa, dove quasi tutti i migranti in Libia si sono fermati e hanno pagato un riscatto per imbarcarsi. Lo conferma lo studio sulla politica economica dei centri di detenzione in Libia commissionato dall’Ue e condotto da «Global Initiative against transnational organized crime» con l’unico mezzo per ora disponibile, le testimonianze dei migranti arrivati in Europa.

      I sequestratori, ci hanno più volte confermato i rifugiati di Eritrea democratica contattati per primi dai connazionali prigionieri, li hanno comperati dal trafficante eritreo Abuselam «Ferensawi», il francese, uno dei maggiori mercanti di carne umana in Libia oggi sparito probabilmente in Qatar per godersi i proventi dei suoi crimini. Bani Walid, in base alle testimonianze raccolte anche dall’avvocato italiano stanziato a Londra Giulia Tranchina, è un grande serbatoio di carne umana proveniente da ogni parte dell’Africa, dove i prigionieri vengono separati per nazionalità. Il prezzo del riscatto varia per provenienza e sta salendo in vista del conflitto. Gli africani del Corno valgono di più per i trafficanti perché somali ed eritrei hanno spesso parenti in occidente che sentono molto i vincoli familiari e pagano. Tre mesi fa, i prigionieri eritrei valevano 10mila dollari, oggi 2.500 dollari in più perché alla borsa della morte la quotazione di chi fugge e viene catturato o di chi prolunga la permanenza per insolvenza e viene più volte rivenduto, sale. Il pagamento va effettuato via money transfer in Sudan o in Egitto.

      Dunque quello che accade in questo bazar di esseri umani è noto alle autorità libiche, ai governi europei e all’Unhcr. Ma nessuno può o vuole fare niente. Secondo le testimonianze di alcuni prigionieri addirittura i poliziotti libici in divisa entrano in alcune costruzioni a comprare detenuti africani per farli lavorare nei campi o nei cantieri come schiavi.
      «Le otto ragazze che sono con noi – prosegue il messaggio inviato dall’inferno da uno dei 60 prigionieri eritrei – vengono picchiate e violentate. Noi non usciamo per lavorare. I carcerieri sono tre e sono libici. Il capo si chiama Hamza, l’altro si chiama Ashetaol e del terzo conosciamo solo il soprannome: Satana». Da altre testimonianze risulta che il boia sia in realtà egiziano e abbia anche un altro nome, Abdellah. Avrebbe assassinato molti detenuti.

      Ma anche nei centri di detenzione pubblici in Libia, la situazione resta perlomeno difficile. Persino nel centro Gdf di Tripoli dell’Acnur per i migranti in fase di ricollocamento gestito dal Ministero dell’Interno libico e dal partner LibAid dove i migranti lasciati liberi da altri centri per le strade della capitale libica a dicembre hanno provato invano a chiedere cibo e rifugio. Il 31 dicembre l’Associated Press ha denunciato con un’inchiesta che almeno sette milioni di euro stanziati dall’Ue per la sicurezza, sono stati intascati dal capo di una milizia e vice direttore del dipartimento libico per il contrasto all’immigrazione. Si tratta di Mohammed Kachlaf, boss del famigerato Abd Al-Rahman Al-Milad detto Bija, che avrebbe accompagnato in Italia nel viaggio documentato da Nello Scavo su Avvenire. È finito sulla lista nera dei trafficanti del consiglio di sicurezza Onu che in effetti gli ha congelato i conti.

      Ma non è servito a nulla. L’agenzia ha scoperto che metà dei dipendenti di LibAid sono prestanome a libro paga delle milizie e dei 50 dinari (35 dollari) al giorno stanziati dall’Unhcr per forniture di cibo a ciascun migrante, ne venivano spesi solamente 2 dinari mentre i pasti cucinati venìvano redistribuiti tra le guardie o immessi nel mercato nero. Secondo l’inchiesta i danari inoltre venivano erogati a società di subappalto libiche gestite dai miliziani con conti correnti in Tunisia, dove venivano cambiati in valuta locale e riciclati. Una email interna dell’agenzia delle Nazioni Unite rivela come tutti ne fossero al corrente, ma non potessero intervenire. L’Acnur ha detto di aver eliminato dal primo gennaio il sistema dei subappalti.

      https://www.avvenire.it/attualita/pagine/torture-libia

  • Torture, rape and slavery in Libya: why migrants must be able to leave this hell

    Rape, torture and slave labour are among the horrendous daily realities for people stuck in Libya who are desperately trying to escape war, persecution and poverty in African countries, according to a new report by Oxfam and Italian partners MEDU and Borderline Sicilia.

    The report features harrowing testimonies, gathered by Oxfam and its partners, from women and men who arrived in Sicily having made the dangerous crossing from Libya. Some revealed how gangs imprisoned them in underground cells, before calling their families to demand a ransom for their release. A teenager from Senegal told how he was kept in a cell which was full of dead bodies, before managing to escape. Others spoke of being regularly beaten and starved for months on end.

    Oxfam and its partners are calling on Italy and other European member states to stop pursuing migration policies that prevent people leaving Libya and the abuse they are suffering.

    158 testimonies, of 31 women and 127 men, gathered by Oxfam and MEDU in Sicily, paint a shocking picture of the conditions they endured in Libya:

    All but one woman said they had suffered from sexual violence
    74% of the refugees and other migrants said they had witnessed the murder and /or torture of a travelling companion
    84% said they had suffered inhuman or degrading treatment, extreme violence or torture in Libya
    80% said they had been regularly denied food and water during their stay in Libya
    70% said they had been tied up

    https://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressreleases/2017-08-09/torture-rape-and-slavery-libya-why-migrants-must-be-able-leave
    #torture #enlèvements #viols #Libye #asile #migrations #réfugiés #rapport

    • Lager Libia. I migranti raccontano l’indicibile

      Nel febbraio del 2017 l’Italia ha stipulato con la Libia un nuovo accordo sui migranti. Oggi si conoscono gli effetti di questo accordo: una drastica diminuzione degli sbarchi in Italia e centinaia di migliaia di migranti intrappolati nel paese nordafricano. Si tratta di persone provenienti sia dall’Africa occidentale che dal Corno d’Africa, in fuga da violenze, guerre, persecuzioni e miseria estrema. Cosa sia la Libia oggi lo raccontano migliaia di testimonianze dei migranti: un grande lager dove si consumano atrocità degne dei peggiori campi di sterminio del XX secolo. Le testimonianze di questo video sono state raccolte a Roma e in Sicilia nei progetti di Medici per i Diritti Umani a supporto delle vittime di tortura. Video di Noemi La Barbera/Medici per i Diritti Umani.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m93RBg8kCWA

      #viols #Libye #témoignages #vidéo

    • Inferno in Libia, «oggi vi ammazziamo tutti»: i migranti torturati e i video per chiedere il riscatto

      Plastica fusa sulla schiena, frustate su tutto il corpo: tutto ripreso con i cellulari e poi inviato ai parenti delle vittime. Il governo libico: «Catturati gli aguzzini autori delle torture»

      http://www.corriere.it/video-articoli/2018/01/24/inferno-libia-oggi-vi-ammazziamo-tutti-migranti-torturati-video-chiedere-riscatto/2a2dce8c-0144-11e8-b515-cd75c32c6722.shtml

    • Rapporto choc. Torture e stupri in Libia: l’ultima accusa dell’Onu

      Una strage occultata: migranti fucilati da militari libici in un centro di detenzione. Non ne avremmo saputo nulla se il segretario generale dell’Onu non ne avesse rivelato l’esistenza in un rapporto choc – visionato da Avvenire – trasmesso al Consiglio di sicurezza nel quale vengono riportati anche i soprusi della Guardia costiera e le crudeltà dei funzionari incaricati del contrasto all’immigrazione illegale. Nero su bianco Antonio Guterres smaschera la narrazione di una Libia in via di stabilizzazione, con i profughi finalmente trattati con più umanità. «I migranti sono stati sottoposti a detenzione arbitraria e torture, tra cui stupri e altre forme di violenza sessuale», scrive il segretario generale, basandosi sulle inchieste di Unsimil, la missione Onu a Tripoli. Indistintamente, nei centri governativi come nei lager clandestini, avvengono «rapimenti per estorsione, lavori forzati e uccisioni illegali» si legge nel documento consegnato al Consiglio di sicurezza il 12 febbraio.

      https://www.avvenire.it/attualita/pagine/torture-e-stupri-in-libia-lultima-accusa-dellonu

    • Ecco come vengono torturati i migranti in Libia: i referti shock della «pacchia»

      Profughi in catene, ustionati e denutriti, aggrediti con acido, picchiati con martelli e tubi. Siamo in grado di farvi leggere i documenti medici sulle ferite delle persone che fuggono dall’Africa e la prova delle violenze nei luoghi di detenzione

      http://espresso.repubblica.it/inchieste/2018/06/27/news/ecco-come-vengono-torturati-i-migranti-in-libia-i-referti-shock-
      #viol

    • EU’s foreign policy chief demands closure of migrant shelters in Libya

      The EU’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini demanded the closure of migrant shelters in Libya, on claims that their conditions of detention were unacceptable.

      “The European Commission is unable to act alone to eliminate the violent practices and violations of the rights of migrants and asylum seekers in shelters in Libya,” Mogherini said through her spokeswoman, Maja Kocijancic.

      Mogherini pointed out that the goal of the European Union is to secure safe spaces for asylum seekers, especially women, children and the marginalized groups, according to Italian Aki news agency.

      https://www.libyaobserver.ly/inbrief/eus-foreign-policy-chief-demands-closure-migrant-shelters-libya

      comme dit un collègue:

      Dans la série « Mogherini dit tout et n’importe quoi » : SI elle demande vraiment la fermeture des centres de détention (où les garde-côtes libyens sont censés envoyer tout migrant intercepter en mer), cela revient à demander l’arrêt des interceptions et retours des migrants en Libye par les garde-côtes libyens…

    • #IOM Statement: Protecting Migrants in Libya Must be our Primary Focus

      With regard to its activities in Libya, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) would like to clarify that we follow the UN position indicating that Libya cannot yet be considered a safe port.

      IOM in Libya is present at the disembarkation points to deliver primary assistance to migrants that have been rescued at sea. However, following their disembarkation, migrants are transferred to detention centres under the responsibility of the Libyan #Directorate_for_Combatting_Illegal_Migration (#DCIM) over which the Organization has no authority or oversight. The detention of men, women and children is arbitrary. The unacceptable and inhumane conditions in these detention centres are well documented, and IOM continues to call for alternative solutions to this systematic detention.

      The number of migrants returned to Libyan shores has reached over 16,000 since January 2018, and concern remains for their safety and security in Libya, due to the conditions in the detention centres.

      IOM only has access to centres to provide direct humanitarian assistance in the form of non-food items, health and protection assistance, as well as Voluntary Humanitarian Return support for migrants wishing to return to their countries of origin.

      IOM’s access to detention centres in Libya is part of the Organization’s efforts to alleviate the suffering of migrants but cannot guarantee their safety and protection from serious reported violations. IOM advocates for alternatives to detention including open centres and safe spaces for women, children and other vulnerable migrants. A change of policy is needed urgently as migrants returned to Libya should not be facing arbitrary detention.

      The security and humanitarian situations in the country remain dangerous, and IOM reiterates that Libya cannot be considered a safe port or haven for migrants.

      https://www.iom.int/news/iom-statement-protecting-migrants-libya-must-be-our-primary-focus
      #OIM