Thousands of refugees are trapped in Libya’s hellish detention centres, where abuse, rape and extortion is rampant. They live in subhuman conditions, awaiting someone – the militia, Europe, the UN, anyone – to decide their fate. We investigate the entire detention system, how this traffic works, the role of the militias and the way in which their control is exercised.
Officially, Libya’s 26 detention centres are run by the GNA, the UN-recognised government in Tripoli. In reality they are in the hands of the militias that control the country, who see migrants as a ready source of cash. The European Union finances the camps but then takes no responsibility for what happens there.
What needs to be changed and what are the solutions? Why is there such a lack of transparency when it comes to the UN’s activities in Tripoli? Europe seems to be at the mercy of Libyan blackmail and the measures taken to help Libya deal with the migrant problem reinforce the cycle of “extreme abuse”. Follow the impact campaign here.
Lybia, no escape from hell is an important documentary of political denunciation, with significant testimonies, that succeeds in telling not only the story of human trafficking in Libya but also the background of the migration policies implemented by European states. The wise and calibrated direction manages to offer great control to the narrative, letting the audience think about what is happening in Libyan detention centres and what it means to “migrate” from that African land.
Almost 300 miles separates Libya from Sicily. This 300-mile stretch is known as the refugee graveyard. But for many, a fate worse than drowning at sea is being locked up in one of the country’s numerous detention centres. We gained rare access.
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Following the fall of Muammar Gaddafi, Libya fell into chaos as rival factions struggled for control of the country. One of the silent weapons used was systematic male rape.
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300 kilometres from European shores, Libya has become a ticking time bomb ready to implode at any moment. Since the fall of Kadhafi in 2011, the country has been divided between the East and the West, between General Haftar’s new national army and the militia controlling the capital of Tripoli.
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