June 23rd, 2010 by Jennifer

Amnesty International has released a new report criticizing human rights abuses in Libya, highlighting in particular violations of the rights of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa, in light of Libya’s recent decision to expel the UN refugee agency, UNHCR. Stating that refugees “live in constant fear,”Amnesty said that migrants in Libya receive no protection from abuse, and reported that many are indefinitely held in crowded detention centers or otherwise forcibly returned to their countries without due consideration of their requests for asylum.

The Amnesty report also describes other human rights violations in Libya, including the harassment and arrest of political activists, unexplained disappearance of dissidents, and continued detention of prisoners past the term of their sentences. On the other hand, the report acknowledges that overall, “The climate of fear and repression that prevailed in Libya for more than three decades is subsiding gradually.”

Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, the deputy director for Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa program, blamed the continuing problems on Libya’s extensive internal security apparatus. “What is striking in Libya is the omnipresence and the total power that security forces have, especially the internal security agency,” she commented. “There are no accountability, no checks, no oversight.  And this really needs to stop.”

Posted in Human Rights, Libya, NGOs |