Amnesty International issued a sharp condemnation on Tuesday, targeting the European Union’s decision to deepen cooperation with Libya. The group warned that these efforts to stem migration are occurring despite an intensifying and violent crackdown on migrants within the country.
Libya remains a primary gateway for North African departures, where thousands risk the perilous Mediterranean crossing in a desperate attempt to reach European shores.
According to Amnesty, both the UN-recognized government and its eastern-based rival are orchestrating systematic crackdowns, further poisoning the environment with xenophobic and racist rhetoric that targets vulnerable populations.
“The European Union is expanding its migration cooperation with rival Libyan authorities and allied militias at the exact moment they are escalating campaigns of mass arrests, arbitrary detention, and illegal collective expulsions,” stated the UK-based rights organization, noting these actions are fueled by discriminatory discourse.
The nation has been fractured by division and chronic instability since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that led to the death of longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi.
Power is currently split between the Tripoli-based administration and an eastern faction under the command of Khalifa Haftar, leaving a security vacuum exploited by predatory actors.
This fragmentation has allowed human trafficking to flourish, with the UN and various NGOs documenting horrific abuses where migrants are subjected to extortion and modern-day slavery.
Amnesty reports that the EU is currently working to establish a new Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in the eastern city of Benghazi.
Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty’s deputy regional director, argued that the bloc is already “complicit in horrific violations” through its financial support of the Libyan coast guard, which routinely intercepts and returns migrants to centers of abuse.
“Extending this cooperation to armed groups in the east, who have committed war crimes with total impunity, demonstrates a shocking disregard for international law and basic human dignity,” she added.
Eltahawy called on EU member states to immediately suspend containment policies that effectively trap vulnerable individuals in endless cycles of violence.
The migration crisis has also triggered domestic friction; earlier this month, hundreds of Libyans protested outside the UN refugee agency in Tripoli, demanding the departure of irregular migrants.
By mid-2024, the International Organization for Migration estimated that nearly 900,000 migrants and refugees were residing in Libya under increasingly precarious conditions.
Ultimately, the EU’s strategy of “externalizing” its borders to unstable regimes represents a profound ethical abdication, akin to hiring a known arsonist to guard a neighbor’s house. By outsourcing the dirty work of deterrence to militias, the bloc prioritizes political convenience over the very humanitarian values it claims to champion. This outsourcing creates a moral hall of mirrors where responsibility is perpetually shifted, yet the human cost—measured in lives broken by extortion and slavery—remains an indelible stain on the conscience of the international community. If the price of European security is the systematic dehumanization of the vulnerable, one must ask: what exactly is being secured?
