18 Sudanese refugees drowned in the Mediterranean sea on April 9 2022. International observers continued to report complicity of Libyan government officials involved in human trafficking. Including Libyan Coast Guard officials.
Libya: 18 Sudanese refugees drowned in the Mediterranean on their way to EU region on April 9 2022. The boat had 20 migrants on board; two passengers survived and only four out of the 18 bodies were recovered. A boat with 90 refugees on board also sank last week, some of the victims were Sudanese.
International observers continued to report complicity of government officials involved in human trafficking, including Libyan Coast Guard (LCG) officials, immigration officers, security officials, Ministry of Defense (MOD) officials, members of armed groups formally integrated into state institutions, and officials from the MOI and MOI’s Department to Combat Illegal Migration (DCIM).
Various armed groups, militias, and criminal networks infiltrated the administrative ranks of the government and abused their positions to engage in illicit activities, including human trafficking and alleged child soldier recruitment and use.
The government did not have any policy structures, institutional capacity, widespread political will, or resources to proactively identify and protect trafficking victims among vulnerable groups, such as foreign migrants, refugees, and asylum-seekers; women in commercial sex; and children recruited and used by government-aligned militias or other armed groups.
Image: Mstyslav Chernov
