Amnesty International accuses Libyan authorities of escalating violence against migrants, criticizes EU cooperation

Amnesty International has accused Libyan authorities of becoming increasingly violent toward migrants, while sharply criticizing the European Union for what the rights group describes as complicity in serious human rights abuses carried out in the North African country. The allegations, raised during a recent interview with the organization, cast a fresh spotlight on the human cost of Europe’s efforts to curb irregular migration across the central Mediterranean.

A pattern of abuse, according to rights groups

Speaking on the France 24 programme Perspective, Diane Fogelman, an advocacy officer for migration at Amnesty International France, argued that migrants intercepted at sea or held on Libyan soil face systematic mistreatment. The group has repeatedly documented cases of arbitrary detention, extortion, physical violence, and exposure to dangerous conditions in official and unofficial holding facilities across the country.

Amnesty International’s assessment describes Libya as operating a system marked by xenophobia and racism, in which migrants from sub-Saharan Africa and other regions are particularly vulnerable. Rights organizations have warned for years that the fragmentation of state authority in Libya, combined with the proliferation of armed groups, has left migrants with limited access to protection and few avenues for legal redress.

Accusations of EU complicity

A central thrust of the criticism targets the European Union’s longstanding partnership with Libyan authorities on migration management. Amnesty International contends that cooperation with Libyan agencies amounts to indirect support for abusive practices, even when framed as a humanitarian or capacity-building effort.

European governments have long argued that supporting Libya’s coast guard and improving conditions in reception centers are essential to preventing deadly Mediterranean crossings. Critics counter that such partnerships externalize border control in ways that shift risk onto migrants themselves, who may end up returned to detention rather than reaching safety.

The new EU migration pact

The controversy comes as the European Union has moved to overhaul its approach to asylum and border management. The EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, which member states have begun implementing, introduces faster procedures at the bloc’s external borders and aims to harmonize how requests for international protection are processed.

Supporters say the pact brings long-overdue clarity to a fragmented system. Human rights organizations, however, have raised concerns that accelerated procedures could limit access to asylum for vulnerable applicants and that the pact does not adequately address the conditions migrants face in countries of transit or first arrival.

A broader debate over responsibility

The Amnesty International intervention adds to a wider debate over where responsibility for migrant protection ultimately lies. With thousands of people continuing to attempt the Mediterranean crossing each year, European policymakers face pressure to balance domestic political concerns with international legal obligations toward refugees and asylum seekers.

For groups like Amnesty International, the message is that partnerships with governments that fail to meet basic human rights standards cannot be treated as neutral instruments of migration management. Until those conditions are addressed, they argue, the EU’s approach risks deepening, rather than alleviating, the suffering of migrants caught between political interests on either side of the Mediterranean.

Source: FRANCE 24 — read the original report.