Human rights groups warn US-Libya deportation deal is inhuman

Human rights defenders have raised the alarm over reports that the United States is exploring a deportation agreement with Libya, Middle East Eye reported on May 2nd.

David Yambio is a Sudanese survivor of Libya’s detention system and co-founder of Refugees in Libya. He described the proposal as “dangerous, unacceptable and inhuman,”  citing the country’s long record of systemic abuse against migrants and refugees.

“I was tortured, I was enslaved. I saw an enormous level of violence that I cannot describe,” Yambio told Middle East Eye, recalling his time inside Libyan detention centres.

“Libya has never been a safe place for migrants, and I don’t see it in any foreseeable future,” he added.

According to CNN on May 1st, US officials under President Donald Trump discussed the potential deportation of non-nationals with criminal records to Libya during a recent meeting with a Libyan delegation. Sources say the administration is also seeking a formal safe third nation deal, which would enable the US to send asylum seekers arrested at the border to Libya.

A State Department spokesperson and a Libyan official have denied that deportation deals were discussed. However, the proposal follows Trump’s broader immigration agenda, which includes striking similar agreements with countries in Central America and Africa. So far, deals have been reported with El Salvador, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, and Rwanda.

During a cabinet meeting, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the administration is “actively searching for other countries to take people from third countries…The farther they are from America, the better – so they can’t come back across the border.”

Giulia Messmer, a spokesperson for Sea-Watch, which is a monitor, said sending refugees to Libya would be “tantamount to condemning [them] to a violent cycle of torture, slavery and sexual violence.”

Libya remains a major transit point for migrants, particularly from sub-Saharan Africa. As of July 2024, an estimated 760,000 migrants were in the country, where many face arbitrary detention, torture, and compulsory labour.

The Libyan Coast Guard, trained and supported by the European Union, routinely intercepts migrants attempting to reach Europe and returns them to informal detention centres.

“We are speaking about innumerable human trafficking hubs that belong to people who are affiliated either with the Ministry of Interior or with the government itself,” Yambio said.

A 2023 UN fact-finding mission found that the EU had “aided and abetted” Libyan authorities’ misconduct against migrants by supporting the Coast Guard and financing border control systems.

Doctors Without Borders reported that refugees in Libya are denied access to healthcare, compounding trauma from abuse and detention. MSF slowed down its operations in Libya in March after workers were targeted by a campaign of harassment.

Middle East Eye, CNN