Thousands of refugees held in Libyan detention centres are at risk because of the deteriorating security situation in and around Tripoli, according to an internal UN document seen by the Guardian.
The UNHCR and International Organization for Migration document, entitled Libya Detention Update 29th May, 2019, said 3,919 of the 5,378 people held in the centres were “persons of concern”, due to particular vulnerabilities.
Many migrants pushed back by the EU-funded Libyan coastguard as they try to cross the Mediterranean to Europe are subsequently taken into detention centres.
According to the document, 4,148 of those refugees in the country are in the security danger zone in Tripoli or in the north-west. More than a quarter (27%) are children, including babies and toddlers.
UNHCR has called for all refugees to be evacuated from the detention centres. Food and water are in short supply, conditions such as TB are rife and many are dying.
The Guardian reported that last month a Libyan militia raided a detention centre, Qasr bin Ghashir, near Tripoli. Young refugees described being shot at indiscriminately by militias advancing on Tripoli, in an attack that reportedly left at least two people dead and up to 20 injured.
After the incident, many people were evacuated but other centres are also dangerous. Refugees have reported the deaths of 22 people from illnesses, including TB and chest infections, and starvation in the past seven months at the Zintan centre, in the north-west of Libya.
Refugees have smuggled out footage of a mountain of rubbish inside the centre that they sleep next to and an infestation of maggots and other insects. The UNHCR internal document identifies 744 out of 754 people at Zintan as persons of concern.
A UNHCR spokesman said: “Reports of the deaths in the Zintan detention centre are deeply concerning. In Zintan and detention centres across Tripoli people are enduring dire conditions. Detainees are being left without enough food and water. Toilets and showers are broken. People are in need of medical care. An outbreak of TB is spreading fast. It is critical that people being held in Zintan and other detention centres in Tripoli are evacuated.”
On Thursday, the UNHCR evacuated 149 vulnerable refugees, including 65 children, to safety in Rome.
Sam Turner, Médecins Sans Frontières’ head of mission in Libya, said: “The level of suffering in Libyan detention centres has increased significantly since the onset of fighting in and around Tripoli.
“The usually meagre provision of food to those held in these centres has become even more scarce and some people report going days without eating.”
Giulia Tranchina, a human rights solicitor from Wilsons Solicitors, who is in daily contact with refugees inside several of the detention centres via WhatsApp, called on Europe to stop funding the Libyan coastguard.
“Unless European governments evacuate refugees out of Libya without delay they will be complicit in the horrific suffering and slow death of hundreds of men, women and children,” she said.