Interview with Tarek Lamloum about Migrants in Libya
Interview with Tarek LAMLOUM
A human rights activist on the file of migrants and asylum seekers in Libya, an advocate at the Belaady Organization for Human Rights, and a member of the Libyan Anti-Torture Network.
1. How do you evaluate the Libyan experience in dealing with immigration and migrants file in Libya before and after the revolution?
The immigration file in Libya is characterized by a specific pattern of exploitation from successive authorities, whether after the revolution or the totalitarian authority before the revolution.
The pre- and post-revolution authorities both exploited the immigration file to pressure European governments and prompt many political gains. The immigration experience remains the same with authorities using the same approach as in the past. Since 2011, the ferocity of successive governments formed through legalized militia groups has increased, turning the issue of immigration and asylum seekers into a source of livelihood and an important financial resource.
“Civil society continues to play a major role and is perhaps the only party attempting to put pressure on all sides to improve the conditions of immigrants, despite attempts from successive governments and security services to restrict and prevent freedom of work.”
2. What is Libyan civil society’s role on immigration issues?
Civil society continues to play a major role and is perhaps the only party attempting to put pressure on all sides to improve the conditions of immigrants, despite attempts from successive governments and security services to restrict and prevent freedom of work, and to portray civil society in public opinion as a foreign hand trying to tamper with national security. However, civil society continues to handle most crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic, and plays a role in monitoring the conditions of workers, immigrants, and detainees.
3. Does the state support civil society to take on that role? Is there a partnership, or are there restrictions?
The partnership between the state and civil society is gradually disappearing, amid governments’ approach of restricting civil society, and accusations of treason against civil society.
The approach of ruling authorities, whether in the East or the West of Libya, has been apparent in fighting civil society, leaving civil society with no choice but to put pressure on international ruling authorities.
4. Are the main smuggling routes and paths in Libya identifiable? What about the assembly locations controlled by smugglers?
Migrants are detained in numerous smuggling warehouses across Libya until the number of people for the journey is complete and they can set out for sea. The smugglers’ warehouses are divided into two sections, a section that hosts those who can make large payments. These are considered seven-star locations and provide all necessities of life. A second section receives poor immigrants, most of African nationality.
In the section that hosts poor immigrants, we find the painful reality of bad practices, torture, and killing, while human traffickers rely on protection from the militia controlling the border area of the smuggler.
“The smugglers’ warehouses are divided into two sections, a section that hosts those who can make large payments. These are considered seven-star locations and provide all necessities of life. A second section receives poor immigrants, most of African nationality.”
The migration routes and paths vary greatly in Libya due to constant changes in the political situation and control of territory. These paths vary according to the ruling parties and the exchange of power between successive governments in Libya. For example:
Waves of migration extend from sub-Saharan African countries, including Sudan and Chad, to the Kufra District in Libya via the southeastern route. Upon the immigrants’ arrival in Kufra, a new path begins for them. Few have luck in crossing and reaching the Libyan coastal cities quickly, and numerous others are often detained again by new smugglers demanding additional payments to allow them to proceed toward the cities of Zuwara, Sabratha, or Zawiya, with an agreement to facilitate their access to the coast and perhaps the sea.
Tripoli is a destination for some immigrants, either for temporary work or to register with UNHCR. The rest of these migrants, more often than not, end up in the Kufra detention center for periods of up to a year, and are usually released to continue their journey toward coastal cities in Libya.
At the end of 2019, a new route opened between Tunisia and Libya, creating a complicated case to understand and organize. Tunisia is only bordered by two African countries, Libya and Algeria, but in recent years Tunisia has witnessed an influx of thousands of people seeking to cross from Libya, or register with the UNHCR in Tripoli. Many individuals seeking to enter Libya from Tunisia have already been in Libya or arrived in Benghazi Airport, including Syrians, arriving in Libya legally and departing by sea. Many are returned by the Tunisian Coast Guard to Tunisia, or are rescued from sea and returned to the Libyan border due to weather changes.
Many are returned by the Tunisian Coast Guard to Tunisia, or are rescued from sea and returned to the Libyan border due to weather changes. Many seek return to Libya themselves, where they enter through smuggling routes through the desert, due to the possibility of returning from Libya to Syria via Benghazi Airport, in addition to the fact that the options available to exit Libya via sea remain realistic. The Tunisia-Libya line still operates to this day.
Since the beginning of 2019, flights have been added from Benghazi Airport to Damascus Airport in Syria, after strengthening relations between the government of eastern Libya and the Syrian Republic. Cham Wings Airlines began operating approximately three weekly flights, carrying dozens of Syrian immigrants, including women and children, with a large number of unaccompanied minors being transported directly from Benghazi Airport and heading to the city of Zuwara, where they can cross the sea in boats. Some of those minors spent fewer than twenty days in Libya, while the fate of many others remains unknown. This air route has become more in demand, expanding the range of flights. Now Benghazi Airport receives flights from Iraq, Lebanon, and Egypt, in addition to Syria. Military investments are evident in this sector, providing security clearances and contracts for workers in this sector.
The Egypt-Tobruk line has been utilized for decades without much change and is usually taken by migrants from Egypt and Sudan. It was used by Syrians before the opening of Benghazi Airport in 2019. Migrants regularly cross this line through the Egyptian desert, reach the Libyan border in the Amsaad area, then head to the city of Tobruk. The fate of many of those migrants remains unclear. M many are detained inside warehouses in Tobruk, Bi’r al-Ashhab, and other border areas. After arriving in Tobruk, migrants are divided. Some remain in the eastern cities of Libya to work, while others choose to take sea boats from Tobruk. Other migrants head west from Tobruk to the city of Ajdabiya, then pass through the city of Bani Walid and head to coastal cities. However, the movement of migrants from Tobruk to the west has slowed significantly, after the opening of the ports of eastern Libya, and the increase of boats departing from these areas to Europe. For this reason, most migrants prefer to travel to the sea from Tobruk, rather than face the dangers of the road to western Libya.
“Many fake companies organized flights through Mitiga Airport, bringing workers from Egypt and Asian countries to Libya, to work in local companies. However, those workers faced financial exploitation with the promise of work permits.”
Many fake companies organized flights through Mitiga Airport, bringing workers from Egypt and Asian countries to Libya, to work in local companies. However, those workers faced financial exploitation with the promise of work permits. The goal of these trips was not to employ these workers in Libya, but rather to facilitate the entry of migrants who made payments to cross the sea, without any intention of helping them work in the country.
5. What relations exist between smugglers and armed militias and with the official authorities?
Today, the situation in Libya has worsened with criminals and human smugglers of the past becoming the present protectors of the country and holding official positions.
6. Is there any effective measures to confront smugglers?
That is hard to believe, amid numerous reasons preventing the occurrence of any successful measure in confronting the phenomenon of human trafficking. Some of these reasons include the dispersion and the great division in Libya, and the existence of several governments at the same time, reaching the presence of three governments at the same time, and the involvement in smuggling of many people affiliated with the governments and have strong influence in society.
7. Has Libya realistically been a destination country of settlement and resettlement for immigrants who failed to reach Europe? Is this possibility of danger likely?
Libya has not been a destination for any immigrants, either before or after the 17 February Revolution. Many cases of immigrants who failed to leave Libya by sea more than four times, yet still prepared for the fifth attempt have been documented. This possibility is hard to conceive and is merely a “scarecrow” used to terrify the masses and justify the numerous violations and criminal acts of the ruling authorities.
“Shelter centers are better described as detention centers. (...) Many detained immigrants in these centers face forced labor, enslavement, and torture.”
8. What is the situation of shelter centers today? Has the interest of the international community and international justice influenced the reduction of various violations faced by immigrants in shelter and detention centers in Libya?
Today, shelter centers are better described as detention centers. These centers are not centers for sheltering human beings. Many detained immigrants in these centers face forced labor, enslavement, and torture. Reports of the mission or investigation committees may impact as much as 30 percent of the situations in these centers. These reports are a source of fear for some militia leaders and have inclined them to change the status of the centers.
9. What is the fate of irregular immigrants returned by state bodies from their attempts to reach Europe by sea? What programs do authorities or civil society provide them?
The fate of irregular immigrants varies from one place to another. The fate of those returned through Tripoli is to remain in detention centers for a period of time. They may be released after paying a ransom. Sometimes, civil society plays a successful role in releasing some of those immigrants when their demands are met. Sometimes civil society fails to release any, facing evasion of their demands or being portrayed as traitors. In places under the militias, including Zawiya, Sabratha, and Warshafana, immigrants may face detention for a year or longer without any reason, and in most cases, they are released after paying a ransom.
As for the programs, there are no programs by the state. The programs that are offered from time to time are for the sole purpose of taking pictures. As for the programs presented by civil society, they also depend on the satisfaction of the authorities, and if the programs are approved, they are restricted within certain limitations.
10. Did the agreement between the Tunisian and Libyan Interior Ministries announced this summer, after accusations of expelling migrants, bring about any tangible change?
This agreement posed no positive impact in serving the interests of the victims, who are migrants and asylum seekers. On the contrary, major allegations indicate that there are uncontrolled parties affiliated with the border guards that receive migrants from the Tunisian side or the border and transport them to unknown destinations. The only party authorized to receive migrants is the Immigration Service affiliated with the Ministry of Interior. Currently, the ministry had no knowledge of the fate of those who are returned from the border.
“The agreement between the Tunisian and Libyan Interior Ministries posed no positive impact in serving the interests of the victims, who are migrants and asylum seekers. On the contrary, major allegations indicate that there are uncontrolled parties affiliated with the border guards that receive migrants from the Tunisian side or the border and transport them to unknown destinations.”
11. What is the Libyan state strategy on the immigration file? What are the features or broad lines of this strategy, if any?
The Libyan state has no strategy on the immigration file worth mentioning. Successive governments and officials continue to issue random decisions. Their allegiance is tribal and regional, and some of them are involved in human trafficking.
12. Can the political and security situation in Libya be exploited to pass a memorandum similar to the one signed by Tunisia, which the Italian government is promoting as a model to be emulated?
Certainly, this is what is happening on the Libyan-Tunisian border and in the areas of Batin al-Jabal, al-Assah, and Nalut, in terms of handing over and receiving immigrants, arbitrary arrests, and forced disappearances.
13. Regarding the European Union’s border export policy, is there hope for a corresponding Greater Maghreb policy? Or will the Greater Maghreb countries and people continue to pay the price for the lack of a Greater Arab Maghreb?
Evidence and practices over the past years indicate that all people from the Greater Maghreb are shackled and unable to impose an independent policy that considers human rights.
14. What about the human capital flight from Libya abroad?
The human capital flight existed for a long time in Libya, as measured by the population of Libya compared to the people who managed to remain in Europe and America. For example, numerous Libyan doctors remain in the United Kingdom and in the rest of European capitals. Large waves of human capital flight moved to Turkey and Egypt after the recent wars in Libya. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reports large numbers of Libyan asylum seekers. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees confirmed in its latest bulletin that 57,149 Libyans applied for asylum from 2011 to 2022. Many of them were highly skilled professionals.
“The contradiction in Libya is that since the Gaddafi era, the Libyan government has allowed the presence of UNHCR offices, allowing migrants to be registered, and arresting the migrant as soon they leave the UNHCR office, and imprisoning them on charges of being an illegal immigrant. Libya continues to burden itself with violations and violates its international obligations toward those seeking protection.”
15. Does Libya conduct screening processes for those entering its territory according to their legal status?
Since the era of Gaddafi, Libyan authorities have deliberately considered everyone who entered their territory to be illegal immigrants who must be punished according to local law. This approach is not correct as for the those entering Libya. Some of them are immigrants, and a large number are seekers of asylum and protection and fleeing countries of conflict, including Syrians or Now Sudan, Yemen, Somalia, and other six nationalities recognized by the UNHCR. The contradiction in Libya is that since the Gaddafi era, the Libyan government has allowed the presence of UNHCR offices, allowing migrants to be registered, and arresting the migrant as soon they leave the UNHCR office, and imprisoning them on charges of being an illegal immigrant. Libya continues to burden itself with violations and violates its international obligations toward those seeking protection.