UN Report Details Widespread Torture, Rape and Trafficking of Migrants in Libya

A United Nations report has documented widespread torture, rape, slavery and trafficking of migrants and refugees in Libya, describing an entrenched system of abuse involving criminal networks and other actors.

By Percy Nhara | Southerton Business Times

GENEVA – A new United Nations report has documented widespread and systematic human rights abuses against migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers in Libya, describing a brutal system of exploitation involving killings, torture, sexual violence, forced labour and human trafficking.

The report, jointly released by the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) and the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), concludes that migrants are routinely subjected to grave abuses by criminal trafficking networks, armed groups and, in some cases, actors allegedly linked to Libyan authorities. Covering the period from January 2024 to December 2025, the report is based on interviews with nearly 100 migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers from 16 countries across Africa, the Middle East and South Asia.

According to the UN, many migrants are abducted or rounded up, separated from their families and detained without due process. Victims reported being held in official and unofficial detention facilities where they endured torture, slavery, forced labour, sexual violence, extortion and ransom demands. The report describes the abuse as an "exploitative model" that has become "business as usual," with vulnerable people treated as commodities in a lucrative trafficking network.

One Eritrean woman recounted being held for more than six weeks in a trafficking house in eastern Libya.

"I wish I died. It was a journey of hell," she told UN investigators. "Different men raped me many times. Girls as young as 14 were raped daily."

She was eventually released after her family paid a ransom. Another Eritrean survivor said traffickers subjected her and another woman, both survivors of female genital mutilation, to further abuse before repeatedly raping them. According to the report, her companion later died from severe bleeding.

Women also described being raped in front of family members while armed men tortured and assaulted detainees inside overcrowded detention facilities. The report further highlights the dangers migrants face while attempting to cross the Central Mediterranean. Many said interceptions at sea by Libyan actors involved excessive force, dangerous manoeuvres and threats that placed lives at risk. Those intercepted are frequently returned to Libya, where they face renewed detention and abuse, raising concerns over violations of the international principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits returning people to places where they face persecution or serious harm.

The UN also criticised Libya's reported practice of collective expulsions, saying migrants are deported without individual assessments or access to asylum procedures, leaving many stranded in remote border areas without food, water or medical care. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk described the findings as evidence of a deeply entrenched system of exploitation.

"There are no words to describe the never-ending nightmare these people are forced into, only to feed the mounting greed of traffickers and those in power profiting from a system of exploitation," Türk said.

UN Special Representative for Libya Hanna Tetteh called for urgent reforms, saying detention centres had become breeding grounds for gross human rights violations.

The UN has urged Libyan authorities to immediately release all arbitrarily detained migrants, end dangerous interception practices, dismantle trafficking networks and ensure accountability for perpetrators. It also called on the international community, including the European Union, to suspend migrant interceptions and returns to Libya until effective human rights safeguards are in place.

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