UN report shows how Nigerians were raped, tortured in Libya
A new report released by the United Nations details the unimaginable horrors Nigerian migrants were being subjected from the moment they entered Libya and throughout their stay in that country.
The report, released by the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) and the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), also showed the horrors of attempting to cross the Mediterranean to Europe.
The report which is entitled: ‘Desperate and Dangerous: Report on the human rights situation of migrants and refugees in Libya’, detailed the horrific conditions Nigerian migrants and refugees faced during their transit through and stay in Libya.
Based on first-hand accounts, the findings by UN human rights staff from Nigerian migrants in Libya, those who had returned to Nigeria, and Nigerians who managed to reach Italy.
The report covered 20-months up till August 2018, detailing a terrible litany of violations and abuses committed by a range of state officials, armed groups, smugglers and traffickers against migrants and refugees.
The accounts of the Nigerian migrants were mostly those of woes ranging from unlawful killings to gang rape, prostitution, arbitrary detention, torture and inhumane treatment, unpaid wages, slavery, human trafficking, racism and xenophobia.
Libyan law criminalises irregular entry into, stay in or exit from the country with a penalty of imprisonment and pending deportation, without any consideration of individual circumstances or protection needs. For instance, a 27-year-old man from Nigeria, who was held in captivity in Sabratah between May and October 2017, gave an account of death penalty in Libya. He described witnessing a migrant being shot by a “drunk guard for no apparent reason,” and another being shot point blank over a disagreement about a sim card.
“To be sold and forced to have sex with Arab or African men either to pay for the journey or to extract your money is a common thing to happen to you as a woman or a girl; all over the journey from day one in the desert until you depart Libya,” says a Nigerian woman who gave account of rape, forced prostitution and other sexual violence.