Libyan authorities have forcibly removed more than 79 migrants who had refused to leave a container ship that had rescued them at sea and taken them to a port east of Tripoli. Human rights organizations have expressed serious concern about Libya's actions.
The migrants had barricaded themselves on the docked ship for the past ten days, saying Libya was too dangerous for them to disembark.
On Tuesday, the Libyan coastguard confirmed that it had resolved the situation with force: "A joint force raided the cargo ship and used rubber bullets and tear gas to force (the migrants off the ship)," a Libyan coastguard commander, Tawfiq Esskair, confirmed.
Esskair said some migrants were injured during the operation but were now “in good condition” after being treated in hospital. He said all had been taken to a detention center in Misrata city.
The group of around 100 people, mostly from Sudan and Eritrea, had been attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe, when their boat began sinking off the coast of Libya. A Panama-flagged ship, the 'Nivin', picked up the migrants and took them to Libya, where 14 agreed to disembark.
Diplomats from some of the migrants’ countries of origin, including Sudan and Somalia, tried to negotiate with the remaining migrants to leave the ship, but they refused.
Human rights concerns
Judith Sunderland from the aid group Human Rights Watch, said "this is the worst possible conclusion to the desperate plea of the people on board the Nivin to avoid inhuman detention in Libya."
The human rights organization, Amnesty International, said that taking the migrants back to Libya was a “clear breach of international law.”
In a statement, the UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, said “the humanitarian community is saddened by the turn of events.” The agency recently warned that migrants who were returned to Libya were at risk of being subjected to blackmail, torture, forced labor and rape.
According to the UNHCR, about 1,600 people have died since the beginning of the year attempting to reach Europe via the Mediterranean. It estimates that around one million migrants are currently stranded in Libya.
Libya’s western coast has been a main departure point for migrants from Africa. Since last year, pressure from Italy has led to the disruption of smuggling networks and the withdrawal of charity rescue ships.