European representatives are congratulating themselves on the fall in the number of migrants form Libya coming to Europe and that there have been fewer deaths in the Mediterranean in recent weeks, but they would do better also to analyse the price that these “migrants” pay for this outcome: these human beings are forcibly returned to live under inhuman conditions, and exposed to alarming degrees of violence and exploitation in detention centres in Libya.
The countries of the European Union who wish to stop the flow of migrants, have recently decided to keep these vulnerable populations in Libya, come what may. This is the latest example of a series of unacceptable, inhuman initiatives put in place to protect the European frontiers. The European migration policy is being pursued inexorably, regardless of the devastating consequences on the lives and health of thousands of refugees and migrants now trapped in Libya, where they face horrible suffering.
Here are the 5 reasons for not blocking refugees, migrants and asylum seekers in Libya:
*Main picture : men detained in Abu Salim detention centre. Detainees spend days and months in Libyan detention centres, without knowing when they will be released. © Guillaume Binet/Myop
