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The United Nations Network on Migration condemns the attack on the refugee and migrant detention centre in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, that has killed at least 44 people and wounded more than 130 others.
The attack is an appalling breach of international law and the imperative to safeguard civilians from conflict. It also highlights the additional plight of the thousands of migrant women, men, girls and boys arbitrarily deprived of their liberty in detention centres across Libya, where the UN has documented degrading, inhumane and unsafe conditions, including torture, ill-treatment, forced labour, enforced disappearance, rape, and a lack of access to food and essential medical care, among other serious human rights violations.
The Network calls on all Libyan actors to safeguard the lives of all migrants on their territory or under their authority and to proactively take measures to protect them and other civilians from the ongoing armed conflict. The Network urges the Libyan authorities, regional allies and the international community to use this tragic episode as a turning point and to end the flagrant abuse of migrants and their exposure to danger. This must include a thorough investigation of the incident and commitment to bring those responsible to account.
The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration is built on the bedrock of the United Nations Charter and international law. It represents a collective commitment to cooperate to save lives and prevent migrant deaths and injuries and to uphold the human rights of everyone. Yesterday’s bombing questions that collective commitment.
The attack also places the spotlight on the often unconscionable conditions in which many migrants are detained, not just in Libya but around the world, and the grave risks they face in detention. In pursuit of a better life for a range of reasons, numerous migrants in all regions undertake long and treacherous journeys. Too often, the end point is criminalization and detention rather than appropriate protection and assistance. Worrying and intensifying reports of immigration detention – often for prolonged periods and in inhumane conditions – demand a reconsideration of an approach that is unsustainable while being unquestionably harmful for migrants.
The United Nations Network on Migration calls on States to put an end to unnecessary and arbitrary instances of detention, as well as substandard conditions of immigration detention, including overcrowding and lack of access to food, hygiene and health services, to reunite families immediately, and to ensure that no child is ever detained for reasons relating to their, or their parents’, migration status. Migrant women, men, girls and boys are entitled to appropriate protection and care, based on individual assessments, in accordance with international human rights law, and with particular respect to their right to liberty.
Many United Nations offices which make up the Network are working to address these issues, including in the context of humanitarian evacuations and assistance; protection programmes tailored for migrants, including migrant children and women; as well as voluntary return and reintegration assistance, to name a few.
The Network remains committed to work with and through its members and partners to help save migrant lives and advance the guiding principles and objectives spelled out in the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
