Global Outcry: End Abuse in Libyan Migrant Detention Centers

During a U.N. meeting, multiple nations urged Libya to shut down detention centers criticized for torturing and abusing migrants. Rights groups emphasized ongoing abuses, obstructed justice, and impunity among armed groups. Libya acknowledged its challenges and efforts in improving human rights under transitional conditions, highlighting global scrutiny in U.N. reviews.

Libya faced mounting pressure at a United Nations meeting, as states including Britain, Spain, Norway, and Sierra Leone voiced serious concerns over the alleged abuses facing migrants in the country's detention centers. These centers, frequently described as sites of torture and abuse, prompted an urgent call for closure from human rights organizations.

At the Geneva meeting, Norway's ambassador Tormod Endresen and Britain's rights ambassador Eleanor Sanders highlighted the dire need for protecting vulnerable migrants, ending arbitrary detentions, and granting unrestricted access to mass grave sites, locations where evidence of violence has emerged.

Despite acknowledging the substantial burden migrants place on the nation, Libya's acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, Eltaher Salem M. Elbaour, emphasized his administration's commitment to human rights reforms. He mentioned reforms in judicial cooperation with the International Criminal Court and new measures targeting detention facilities amidst an ongoing U.N. review process of all member states.

(With inputs from agencies.)