A young Somali woman spoke of the traumatic experience of violence she had with many people who were forcibly returned to Libya after fleeing their home countries.
Médecins Sans Frontières quoted the 19-year-old girl as saying: “They push us into overcrowded rooms without windows, food or water, and give us a bowl to pee in. They put cameras on all the walls, and men with weapons are standing on the roofs. Armed men are scattered everywhere, beating us at all times, pushing women on the ground, taking off our clothes, kicking us, pulling our hair, and using iron and electrical wires, according to a statement obtained by Sputnik.
The girl continued, “I was forced to work as a foreign worker in the homes of the Libyans. I was a hostage to them, and as soon as I ran out of money, they started torturing me.”
And she added, “This and the Libyan men kept me in the house, and in the light of all this torture, our only option was to rely on God. We only witnessed torture there.”
“People who are forcibly returned to Libya after fleeing their homes pass through the central Mediterranean through the world’s deadliest maritime border in the hope of finding sanctuary in Europe,” Doctors Without Borders said in a statement.
In its statement, Doctors Without Borders noted that its teams had documented the “harsh effects and horrific testimonies of violence, as it touches thousands of adults and children caught in the cycle of sea crossings and forced return to Libya.”
In this context, MSF teams pointed out that “265 survivors who were rescued during their operations had the courage to tell them at least 620 experiences of violence they had experienced by force, and many others seek to tell such stories, and that 82 per cent of these cases of violence perpetrated in Libya.
“People report violence while in Libya, when they are intercepted at sea, or during return, and guards in detention centers commit 34 percent of the reported violence, while 15 percent of these operations are responsible for The coast guard, 11 percent of the military or non-governmental police, smugglers and traffickers are responsible for 10 percent of these violence.”
They added that their teams “document women and children’s exposure to high levels of violence, as the percentage of minors who reported being exposed to violence is 29 percent, knowing that the youngest is eight years old, while the percentage of women reaches 18 percent, and it was reported that 68 percent of violent incidents It took place within one year before the survivors were rescued.”
The statement added: “Survivors also report suffering from violence during their forced return to Libya by the Libyan Coast Guard. Between June 21, 2021 and May 2022, our medical and humanitarian teams recorded 95 incidents of violence during the return of survivors due to the procedures adopted by the Coast Guard The most prominent means of violence that were reported were beatings with belts, wooden sticks or ropes, threats with weapons and shooting, and survivors reported being forced to return to Libya between one and seven times before being rescued by the Geo Barents ship. Official and unofficial detention centers after their return to Libya.
Coastal countries such as Italy and Malta are systematically ignoring their duty to care for boats in danger, not relying on targeted search and rescue mechanisms with the clear mission of saving lives in the central Mediterranean. Instead, European countries cooperate with the Libyan Coast Guard to patrol large areas of the Mediterranean, until the European response to the crisis in the Mediterranean has focused primarily on strengthening the capabilities of the Libyan Coast Guard, and is based on supporting efforts to forcibly return migrants to Libya, where They are awaiting detention and abuse,” according to a MSF statement.
In light of all this, Doctors Without Borders is deeply dissatisfied with the continuing humanitarian catastrophe in the central Mediterranean due to the policies adopted, despite overwhelming evidence of the harm being inflicted by European policies aimed at deterring migrants, and despite calls for Change unleashed on all possible platforms, European institutions and political leaders continue to systematically adopt deadly policies.”