UN Report Documents Systematic Abuses Against Migrants in Libya
A new United Nations report describes a “brutal and normalized reality” for migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers in Libya, detailing a sharp rise in exploitation and human rights violations that have become “business as usual.”
The joint report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) covers January 2024 to December 2025. It is based on interviews with nearly 100 migrants from 16 countries and outlines an “exploitative model preying” on vulnerable populations.
The findings document widespread abduction, arbitrary detention, human trafficking, forced labor, enforced disappearances, and severe abuse, including sexual and gender-based violence and torture. Conditions are particularly severe near Libya’s borders, where traffickers, smugglers, armed groups, and state actors subject individuals to systematic violence.
“After their disembarkation in Libya, they are routinely held in detention centres that are breeding grounds for human rights violations and abuses,” said Suki Nagra, UN Human Rights Representative to Libya. She noted waves of racist hate speech and highlighted that sea interceptions often return people to Libya, which is not considered a safe place for disembarkation.
The report details how migrants are frequently caught in clashes between armed groups, abandoned in deserts, and subjected to collective expulsions without due process. Data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) indicates that from June 2023 to December 2025, approximately 13,783 migrants were intercepted at the Libya-Tunisia border. Many face refoulement and lack basic necessities.
Forced expulsions surged in 2025. In July 2024, at least 463 individuals were deported to Niger, followed by over 1,400 more between January and June 2025. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reported finding dead bodies in the Sahara, including a mother and daughter who died of thirst, with nine others missing.
Detention conditions are described as severe, with overcrowding, malnutrition, lack of medical care, and enforced disappearances. Women, children, and pregnant people are disproportionately affected. Detainees are often subjected to forced labor, including garbage collection and farm work, and some are coerced into guarding facilities.
Survivor testimonies detail extreme sexual violence. Five girls, aged 14 to 17, were repeatedly raped in trafficking hubs and prisons in 2024 and 2025. An Eritrean woman detained in Tobruk stated, “Different men raped me many times. Girls as young as 14 were raped daily.” Another survivor, previously subjected to female genital mutilation, reported that she and a friend were forcibly cut open by traffickers and raped
