Jesuit Refugee Service Malta January 2014 BEYOND IMAGINATION ASYLUM SEEKERS TESTIFY TO LIFE IN LIBYA “The fi rst time we tried to leave Libya, the boat was taking in water. So we returned to Libya, where we were put in the hands of militias. We went through the fi rst gate, the second, the third, I thought I would never leave that place, I was praying so hard. The Libyans asked us, ‘why did you try to cross the sea?’ They were so angry: ‘You are Africans, you come to our sea, you spoil it, go back to Africa.’ They accused us of working for Gaddafi . We were forced to lie fl at on the fl oor for four to fi ve hours, without moving, while the guards walked over us, beating us with metal rods and threatening us with guns. They asked us, ‘are you Muslim?’ To those who replied yes, the guards ordered them to pray and, when they obeyed, they kicked them.” Abuubakar GaG nfnfudu a detet ntntioon cecenttrere, BeBengghhaziz , Maarcr h 20201111; mim grg ana tst impm risoonened unded r the Gaaddddafi rer gigimeme escac peped whw ene theh warar ini Libya startted, leavvining memeagree butt prer ciouus beeloongginngsg behe innd.d Thih s cec ntrer is non w used by mim liitit as to deetatain miggrants. Beilvert © Claire Table of Contents Introduction 2 Don’t return migrants to Libya About this booklet 5 The post-Gaddafi era What we found 6 Fear, whims and commodity Life in Libya 7 Easy prey Detention in Libya 9 “I was in prison...” 12 “300 people drinking from the same tap” 14 “This is my country; I do what I like” 17 No right to health 19 “The beating of a lifetime” 22 “They took us by force” 24 Standing in a row like slaves 26 Immune to outside infl uence Access to protection 28 We can’t say we didn’t know Recommendations 30 | Beyond Imagination | 1 Introduction Don’t return migrants to Libya Malta mulls push-back to Libya and would have been unable to exercise On 9 July 2013, the media learned that their right to apply for asylum. the government was planning to send a group of Somali asylum seekers back to Can Libya be part of the solution? Libya on an unscheduled Air Malta fl ight. The Maltese government has since insisted, on more than one occasion, The asylum seekers had just arrived to that Libya should be seen not as part of Malta by boat, a handful among the the problem of irregular migration but thousands who undertake highly risky as an essential part of the solution. journeys across the Mediterranean Sea to seek protection in Europe – and who In theory, this approach might make have provoked the so-called “irregular sense for Malta, as it does for Italy. migration crisis” by doing so. Both countries are struggling to cope with waves of African immigrants who They were saved at the eleventh hour set out from Libya and wash up on their when the European Court of Human shores in overcrowded vessels to apply Rights (ECHR) issued an interim ruling for asylum. The UN refugee agency, against their return, in response to an UNHCR, says more than 23,000 people, urgent application fi led earlier in the mostly Africans, tried leaving Libya by day by a coalition of local NGOs, among boat in 2013, triple the number in 2012. them the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS). The Libyan coastguard says it stopped The government later insisted that no 2,200 migrants on the sea in just two fi nal decision on returning the asylum months of 2013. Concerned about seekers to Libya had actually been the sheer numbers of migrants and taken, saying the option was one of frequent horrifi c accidents at sea, the several diff erent ones that were – and European Union (EU) is helping to train still are – on the table. Libyan border patrol guards and to set up systems to control Libya’s 2,000-km- The government’s regrettable long shore. decision even just to consider a push- back proved controversial, drawing But if the tactic to seal off Libya’s condemnation at home and abroad. borders makes sense from an EU The push-back would have been clearly perspective, in reality it is nothing illegal, a complete negation of the less than a travesty of the migrants’ spirit and letter of Malta’s international fundamental rights. Even if enthusiasm obligations. If returned to Libya, the to control Libya’s borders were Somalis would have faced a real risk of matched by equal eagerness to help inhuman, cruel and degrading treatment the country build and apply decent 2 | JRS Malta | Resting on thee decck ofof an ArA memed FoForcese of MaM llta (AFMM) papatrt ol boat inin Juuly 2020133, affter bbeeiing reesccueu d ffromm a vesses l iin disstress whille trt yiy ng to reacch Euroropep ann soio l from Libyay . © Darrin Zammit Lupi © Darrin migration and asylum systems, arbitrary arrest, unlimited detention hitherto non-existent, the truth is that and torture to do so. While some Libya today is nowhere near ready to militia groups are sanctioned by the guarantee anybody’s human rights, let state, others operate entirely above alone those of foreigners. the law, assuming “the roles of police, prosecutors, judges and jailers”, in the Libya remains highly unstable words of the International Crisis Group. More than two years after the overthrow of the dictator Muammar Migrants and asylum seekers at high risk Gaddafi , Libya remains prey to violence In such a lawless scenario, migrants are and political instability. One key reason especially vulnerable, particularly sub- is that the government has failed to Saharan black Africans. Those who left disarm an array of well-armed militias, their own countries because of war and largely set up during or after the persecution have no realistic chances uprising against Gaddafi . The country of applying for asylum in Libya. They is awash with weapons, and targeted suff er widespread racist abuse; they assassinations, kidnappings and tribal are criminalized because they enter the clashes are commonplace. country without the right documents; they are systematically hunted down The militias have been quick to step and detained in appalling conditions; into the security void left by weak state and exploited as forced labour. institutions, military and police. They control swathes of territory and some Some militias have made it their brigades have taken it on themselves “mission” to tackle migration, to guarantee the country’s security, drawing inspiration from xenophobia, resorting to grossly illegal practices of misguided fears of disease, and security | Beyond Imagination | 3 Introduction A lawless country: demonstrators protest against the use of weapons concerns. by rebel militias in They detain Tripoli in late 2011. migrants in camps that were used for the same purpose in Gaddafi ’s time and have opened new makeshift ones too. © UN Photo/Iason Foounten The reality on the ground leaves no room for doubt: for the foreseeable future, Malta In this publication, we use the cannot return migrants to Libya – to do words “migrants” or “asylum so would be tantamount to dispatching seekers” to describe those them to hell. smuggled clandestinely by boat from Libya to Malta. We wish to Certainly Libya’s allies, Malta included, emphasise that however people should help the fl edgling government are labelled, migrants, asylum and civil society to strengthen law- seekers, refugees... they should abiding state security forces and never be returned to a country to work towards the creation and where they face a real risk of implementation of a justice system and inhuman and degrading treatment fair policies that truly protect human and punishment, and where their rights. fundamental rights would be ignored. Most migrants are in But while all work together to attain fact asylum seekers; at the fi rst this ideal situation, an ideal is all it opportunity, they fi le a claim for will remain for a long time to come. international protection. In 2012, Getting Libya to sign up to international 1890 migrants arrived by boat agreements, a laudable step in itself, to Malta. Only 52 did not apply will not be nearly enough to guarantee for asylum. In that year, 78% of urgently needed changes on the all asylum seekers were granted ground. Until radical and measurable some form of protection and improvements take place in the security another 9% provisional status. and governance of Libya, it will be a very Somalis accounted for 86% of dangerous place for migrants, asylum those granted international seekers and refugees, in particular those protection, followed by Eritreans. of sub-Saharan African origin. 4 | JRS Malta | About this booklet The post-Gaddafi era n 2009, JRS Malta to issue another African countries. Many, Ipublished a booklet publication about life if not most, asylum about life for asylum for asylum seekers in seekers consider Libya as seekers in Libya, entitled Libya today, so that a stepping-stone on their Do they know? At the the consequences of arduous journey to fi nd time, Gaddafi was still returning anyone there safety in Europe. in power and asylum will be clear to all. seekers and migrants In these pages, we focus were subjected to UNHCR estimates that specifi cally on asylum arbitrary detention, Libya hosts around seekers from Eastern torture and xenophobic 30,000 registered Africa, bringing you the violence. refugees and asylum voices of Eritrean and seekers, as well as a huge Somali asylum seekers By all accounts, the population of migrants who passed through post-Gaddafi era is even searching for work, who Libya in 2012 and 2013 and worse.