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Governments cooperating with Libyan authorities on migration control are facing renewed pressure after a United Nations investigation concluded that people returned to the country are routinely exposed to severe abuse and exploitation. The report urges foreign partners, particularly in Europe, to suspend the practice of returning intercepted migrants to Libyan territory until credible protection mechanisms exist.
The findings, released Tuesday by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, examine conditions between January 2024 and December 2025.
UN High Commissioner Volker Türk and the Secretary General’s Special Representative for Libya, Hanna Tetteh, said the documented treatment of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers conflicts with international legal obligations concerning protection and non refoulement, the principle that people should not be sent back to places where they face serious harm.
Investigators conducted interviews with nearly 100 migrants from 16 countries across Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. Their testimonies describe a pattern in which criminal groups capture travellers moving across Libyan territory and transfer them into detention facilities, often without judicial oversight.
Inside these sites, detainees reported beatings, sexual violence, forced labour and extortion. Families were contacted and pressured to send money in exchange for release, while personal property and identity documents were confiscated and later resold.
Read also: Mass Repatriation: 20,000 Nigerians Return From Libya
Some survivors said women and girls were repeatedly assaulted, and others described prisoners being abused publicly to coerce payments from relatives.
The UN assessment indicates that the abuses operate as a structured economy. Trafficking groups, guards and intermediaries benefit financially from captivity, turning detention into a revenue generating enterprise rather than a temporary custodial measure. Investigators also found indications that certain networks maintain links with state affiliated actors, complicating accountability.
The report also focuses on maritime operations in the central Mediterranean. Boats carrying migrants attempting to reach Europe are frequently intercepted by Libyan units or actors working alongside them. Witnesses described dangerous boarding procedures and violent treatment during these operations.
Read more: Libyan Authorities Discover Mass Grave Filled With Migrants
Türk said protecting migrants is a legal duty, not a discretionary humanitarian gesture. Tetteh added that detention centres have become focal points for rights violations rather than protective shelters.
Libya remains a principal transit corridor for people seeking entry into Europe. Cooperation agreements between European states and Libyan authorities aim to limit sea crossings, but critics have long argued that the arrangement shifts migration enforcement to a country with limited institutional control and fragmented security forces.
The new investigation reframes the issue beyond humanitarian concern, presenting it as a policy dilemma. Efforts to curb irregular migration have reduced arrivals in parts of Europe, but the UN contends they have also entrenched a system that exposes migrants to predictable harm.
UN officials are calling for expanded search and rescue operations in international waters and stronger monitoring of detention facilities. They also want partner governments to review cooperation frameworks tied to maritime interceptions and returns.
No binding enforcement mechanism accompanies the report, but it increases diplomatic pressure on states funding or coordinating migration control in the Mediterranean.
Whether those governments adjust policy will determine if migrants intercepted at sea continue to be returned to Libya or diverted to alternative processing arrangements.
