On 31.10.2021, a delegation of the refugees protest camp met the UNHCR-LIBYA Chief of Mission Mr Jean Paul Cavalieri and his deputy Jamal. The meeting protocol is an important written document of informations, accusations and demands of the refugees. Full transcription!
Here some parts of the long text:
„Since the first of Oct [2021, starting the raids], the Libyan authorities took their security arrangements based
on false allegations, of criminalities, prostitution, drug dens and other illegal activities. These security arrangements saw a weird approach taken by the authorities with crackdowns on our homes amidst our sleep, made mass arrests with an extreme force of violence, brought mass weapons of destruction, arrested pregnant women, newly born children from two months old and above. People shot at and woundedwillingly, and this move claimed one life of a migrant and 15 wounded. However, those arrested were taken and arbitrarily
detained in detention centers which you know and others that you do not know and might never know, where all atrocities, tortures, sexual violations, humiliations, and human rights violations are one way irreplaceable activity. Therefore, since the 2nd of October the survivors of these mass and unjust arrests got people frightened and their lives threatened which then brought their gatherings to the CDC where they have been camping for the last 30 days. Nevertheless, those arrested and detained in the khotshal prison however went on a hunger strike and broke the cells where they were held for a complete one week like animals with no access to basic needs of life, including toilets, showers,pure drinking water and food,where they were always tortured. They escaped and joined their brothers who were camping at your front office. And during these chaos
and the battle for freedom, dozens of refugees and migrants lost their lives with hundreds wounded, but reported by IOM that only 6 were shot dead, and the attorney general office issued a statement claiming that only 1 died. The campaign has brought so many miseries and challenges where thousands of people have no access to toilets, shelters, sanitation and life’s basic needs including medical intervention while camping at your office. We have lost two lives so far, one who got shot by an unknown man and the other got hit by a car of the passersby. For these reasons we have been camping and peacefully demonstrating for protection and evacuations to countries of safety. Because people feel unprotected by the Libyan authorities and your
office does nothing about it”. – „We are not ready to take any other assistance and go back to the Libyan communities where our rights are violated and our lives are at risk as you do not guarantee us any safety and
protection.“
In the meeting, the refugees refuse to become UNHCR’s overseers in the face of the refugees‘ anger, in exchange for meager handouts. The survivors of the camps and the raid of early October 2021 – in which many refugees were killed – refuse to go back to the Detention and Monitored Centers in Tripoli, because the UNHCR does not want to assume security guarantees. UNHCR sees no valid evacuation options. The main donors of the UNHCR Tripolis are the European States, and the refugees see the very responsability for their bloody situation in the EU.
Refugees in Libya – Meeting UNHCR 31.10.2021