Libya Crimes Watch (LCW) is monitoring with grave concern the escalation of serious violations, hate speech, and incitement to violence targeting migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and foreign workers in Libya since the beginning of June 2026. These include arbitrary detentions, raids on and forcible evictions from places of residence, and physical and verbal assaults, occurring alongside a surge in hate speech and incitement against these groups across the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the time of this statement, LCW’s field team has monitored widespread mass arrest campaigns targeting migrants and foreign workers in eastern and western Libya, particularly in the cities of Tripoli, Benghazi, Ajdabiya, and Al-Bayda, among them women and children. LCW has also documented raids on migrant residences and the forcible eviction of their occupants, as well as physical and verbal assaults against a number of individuals, including women, children, and persons with pre-existing health conditions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The arrest campaigns are being led by security agencies and armed groups affiliated with the authorities in eastern and western Libya, most notably the Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF), the Directorate for Combatting Illegal Migration (DCIM) operating under the Libyan Government accredited by the House of Representatives (HoR), as well as the General Directorate of Security Operations (GDSO) and security directorates in several areas of eastern Libya operating under the Ministry of Interior of the GNU. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
LCW has also monitored with concern the participation of civilians in some of the raids and assaults, alongside widespread incitement campaigns and hate speech on social media platforms and in local media, some of which are led or promoted by media outlets and platforms aligned with the authorities in eastern and western Libya, as well as official government institutions. This has contributed to fuelling hostility against migrants and has encouraged participation in, or facilitation of, their targeting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Inas (pseudonym), a 46-year-old Sudanese migrant and victim, told LCW:<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n We were inside the house when masked armed men broke in. They did not tell us who they were or what they wanted. They beat me and my husband, and they beat my brother despite his poor health condition. They directed racist insults at us, calling us slaves and telling us to go back to our country. They then threw us out of the house, stole everything inside it, and left. We are now on the street with nowhere to go, with a sick person who needs care, and we have found no organisation to help or protect us.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n LCW warns that the continuation of these campaigns is exacerbating violence and discrimination against migrants and creating an environment that enables further violations to be committed against them. Hate speech and incitement may also be used to justify and expand operations of forced deportation and forcible return, in violation of international law and the guarantees required to protect persons at risk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n LCW holds the authorities in eastern and western Libya, including the LAAF, the GNU, and the Libyan Government accredited by the HoR, fully legally responsible for the serious violations to which migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers on Libyan territory are being subjected, for their failure to protect them, and for their failure to ensure respect for their rights and to fulfil Libya’s obligations under International Human Rights Law (IHRL). <\/p>\n\n\n\n LCW calls on the authorities in eastern and western Libya to immediately halt all violations committed against migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers, to ensure their protection from assault, forcible eviction, incitement campaigns, and hate speech, and to refrain from any deportation or forcible return operations that may expose them to the risk of persecution or other violations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n LCW further calls on the Office of the Libyan Attorney General to cease the detention of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers on the basis of their migration or asylum status, and to ensure that they are not arbitrarily detained, in accordance with Libya’s obligations under IHRL. LCW also calls on the Office to open independent and effective investigations into all violations committed against them, and to hold those responsible to account, including all those who ordered, participated in, or facilitated such violations, in accordance with international fair trial standards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, LCW calls on the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR) to take the necessary measures urgently to ensure the protection of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers at risk in Libya. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n