With increasing political instability and lack of law and order, migrants are at the mercy of smugglers and gunmen as they brave the seas from Libya to Italy
Over the weekend, in more than a score of separate missions, the Italian Coastguard along with NGOs rescued some 3,300 migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy.
Rescue operations like these are frequent off the coast of politically unstable Libya as migrants fleeing deprivation in Africa and the Middle East put to sea in ramshackle vessels, run by unscrupulous traffickers, seeking a better life in Europe, often facing death, deportation or detainment.
“The lack of law and order in Libya has allowed criminal gangs to play with the lives of migrants as they promise to take them to Europe,” Ghassan Khalil, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) special representative to Libya, told The Media Line. “The boats are controlled by criminal gangs and they exploit people.”
Historically a transit point between Africa and Europe, Libya, which has fallen into complete political disarray, has become a hub for migrant trafficking and smuggling as gangs have taken control of the mostly unmonitored 1,100-mile coastline.
“At the end of the day, this is trafficking,” Khalil added.
Desperate migrants risk the three-day central Mediterranean crossing from Libya to Italy in the traffickers’ rickety boats and rubber dinghies. If caught, they are arrested and detained in Libya. This crossing has become known as one of the most dangerous and deadliest odysseys in the world.
Analysts blame the increase in migrant trafficking and smuggling to the chaos that has plagued Libya for the last five years as well as the internal civil wars and violence in many of the migrant’s home countries.
“(This issue) is clearly due to the situation in Libya and the situation in Syria and the deteriorating conditions of the refugee camps in the Middle East,” Maria Teresa Sette, spokesperson for Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS), a Malta-based NGO dedicated to rescuing refugees in distress at sea, told The Media Line.
Oil-rich Libya has been racked by violence and political instability since the Arab Spring, which was a wave of anti-government protests in the Middle East and North Africa calling for democratic reform. Beginning in February 2011, demonstrations in Libya sought to overthrow Dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who had been in power since toppling the monarchy in 1969. Rebel elements, backed by NATO, eventually captured and killed Gaddafi in October 2011.
Prior to his overthrow, Gaddafi had promised to maintain control over his country’s extensive coastline. In 2008 Gaddafi struck a deal with the European Union promising to block the flow of migrants in exchange for a $500 million handout.
“The massive influx began after the Libyan uprising,” Hilal Khashan, chair of the department of political studies at the American University in Beirut, told The Media Line. “Gaddafi had controlled the refugees most of whom came from sub-Saharan Africa.”
Since the 2011 revolution, the country has seen five years of chaos with no central government as various armed groups and the Islamic State are vying for control over cities in Libya.
“The political crisis has been ongoing since July 2014 and it is badly affecting the whole population in Libya,” Khalil said. “They suffer from basic issues like lack of electricity and very low quality medical services.”
Because of the lack of law and order and as the country has become even more enveloped in political instability and chaos, criminal gangs and trafficking and smuggling networks have all emerged and flourished, promising both African and Middle Eastern migrants passage to Europe.
According to the Geneva-based International Organization of Migration (IOM), there are between 700,000 and one million migrants in Libya originating from Nigeria, Niger, Mali, Sudan, Egypt, Syria and even Bangladesh. While some migrants choose to stay in Libya, others attempt the crossing to Europe.
In 2016 alone, there have been almost 160,000 recorded migrant arrivals in Italy and almost 4,000 deaths.
While migrants are traversing the country, most Libyan nationals are staying put in their insecure country. According to Christine Petre, an IOM public information officer, only 178 Libyans have been recorded as reaching Italy so far.
However, as the country continues to spiral, some analysts believe that more Libyan nationals might start leaving their home.
“In Lebanon, during the civil war, many Lebanese left for security and economic reasons,” Khashan said. “There is no future for Libyans in Libya.”
Katie Beiter is a student journalist with The Media Line