Libyan Authorities Weaponize Xenophobic Rhetoric to Justify Mass Migrant Expulsions, HRW Warns

Human Rights Watch and other organizations report that Libya’s rival authorities have amplified anti-migrant rhetoric and carried out mass arrests, arbitrary detention, and forced expulsions of migrants and refugees, fueling xenophobic protests and inhumane conditions; the crackdown has involved thousands detained or deported, alleged abuses by the Libyan Coast Guard and militias, and discoveries of mass graves and other atrocities, while the EU’s migration cooperation with Libyan actors raises further human-rights concerns.