The investigators said the situation of human rights has been getting worse. migration agency, in its latest report published in mid-March, tallied nearly 700,000 migrants with 42 nationalities in Libya as of the end of last year. Investigators cited evidence of crimes against humanity in prisons in parts of eastern Libya controlled by forces of commander Khalifa Hifter, as well as in areas controlled by an umbrella group of militias led by Abdel-Ghani al-Kikli, an infamous warlord known as 'Gheniwa' in the capital, Tripoli. The investigators documented enslavement, rape - “at times at gunpoint” - and other sexual abuse against women and men, including by guards working both for state authorities and trafficking groups. “We are providing assistance to help them improve their performance when it comes to search and rescue, be it with vessels, be it with equipment, or previously training with a focus exactly on human rights,” he said. He said the European bloc and its member states weren't found to be responsible for war crimes, but 'the support given has aided and abetted the commission of the crimes.”Įuropean Commission spokesman Peter Stano told reporters Monday that the EU did not fund the Libyan coast guard “nor any other entity in Libya,” adding that the EU assistance was meant to “improve their performance.” 'You can’t push back people to areas that are unsafe, and the Libyan waters are unsafe for the embarkation of migrants.” “The support given by the EU to the Libyan coast guard in terms of pull-backs, pushbacks, (and) interceptions led to violations of certain human rights,' said investigator Chaloka Beyani. The 'wide-scale exploitation of vulnerable, irregular migrants' churned up 'significant revenue' that spurred continued rights violations, it said. The Libyan coast guard, which has received training and equipment from the EU, has worked 'in close coordination' with trafficking networks in Libya, the report said. Speaking in Arabic through a translator at a news conference in Geneva, he said his team unearthed 'numerous cases of arbitrary detention, murder, torture, rape, enslavement, sexual enslavement and enforced disappearance.” The investigators found “reasonable grounds to believe that crimes against humanity were committed against Libyans and migrants throughout Libya,” said Mohamed Auajjar, the head of the fact-finding mission. Spokespersons for the government in the capital of Tripoli, which works in western Libya, and the forces of a powerful commander that controls eastern and southern Libya, were not immediately available for comment.

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