Statement on the Measures taken by the Government of National Accord to address the Threat of the Spread of the Emerging Corona Virus
In a statement published on Wednesday, January 18, 2020 Human Rights Solidarity (HRS) considered the measures announced by the Ministry of Justice (MJ) of the Government of National Accord[i], as insufficient and places detainees in the various detention centers administered by the MJ’s Judicial Police, and illegal migrants held in detention centers administered by the Anti-Illegal Immigration Authority (AIIA). HRS believes these measures put the detainees and the migrants at greater risk of death from the health complications caused the highly contagious Coronavirus.
The measures announced by the Ministry of Justice do not address the issue of overcrowding in detention centers, such as the detention center at Mitiga Airbase, controlled by the “Special Deterrent Force” (SDF), where large numbers of detainees held in small cells and unsuitable for humans[ii]. The cells lack sanitation, safe drinking water, medical neglect and food and denial of family visits. These conditions make the illness caused by infection with the Coronavirus deadly.
The measures announced by the Ministry included “conducting comprehensive medical checks” on detainees and providing “disinfectants, sterilizers, masks, and protective gloves” for the detainees, which are good measures if implemented, but HRS and through multiple sources, from interviews with detainees who were released last year and with relatives of detainees , has documented that detainees in most detention centers are deprived of the most basic medical care, and the condition of the detention centers is very poor and overcrowded, and so are the migrant detention centers.
Ahmed Mahmoud, human rights researcher at HRS, in a comment on the measures announced by the Ministry of Justice said: “The detention centers, which the Ministry of Justice ironically call ‘Correction and Rehabilitation Institutions’, where hundreds of detainees held in inhumane conditions, deprived of any medical care, their bodies exhausted by hunger and disease. This is an environment that if the new Coronavirus reaches it, the virus will spread like a wildfire”, and added “I see no explanation for the Ministry of Justice’s insistence to continue detaining hundreds of people without trial and literally starving them, other than that the MJ’s officials have no respect for the Libyan Constitution[iii] and Libyan Law[iv], no respect for International Conventions[v] and International Human Rights Law[vi], and have no regard for the value of human life”.
For example, the families of detainees at Mitiga detention center are periodically compelled to buy food and medicine from a special shopping center run by the “Special Deterrent Force”. Prices there are much higher than in the markets.
No information is available on the prisons and detention centers in the eastern region of Libya, which are not under the authority of the GNA’s Ministry of Justice. The forces loyal to Khalifa Haftar has not allowed any independent organizations to visit the “official prisons”, like al-Kuweifiya prison near Benghazi and Gernada prison near al-Bayda, nor the secret ones like ar-Rajma located at the Air Defense camp, which is now used by Haftar as his headquarters. “Bureaucratic hurdles and the lack of cooperation of the authorities continued to severely limit the access of UNSMIL/OHCHR to detention facilities; it was thus unable to visit prisons under the control of the Ministry of Justice and the Judicial Police in the east. Although the Chief of staff of the Libyan National Army instructed the military prosecutor in Benghazi to facilitate visits in accordance with formal procedures in response to advocacy by UNSMIL in early July, the latter continued to face constraints on its access to prisons”[vii].
In immigration detention centers, administered by the Anti-Illegal Immigration Authority (AIIA), HRS has documented, for more than three years, the horrifying conditions in those centers, especially overcrowding, the absence of health care, and the lack of food. Ahmed Mahmoud said “we have documented the situation and tried to communicate with the authorities in Tripoli, but we got nothing. We alerted the United Nations Support Mission in Libya and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, but nothing changed,” he added “and now, since the start of the attack by the forces and militias of Khalifa Haftar on the city of Tripoli, we have noticed that some centers have stopped providing food to migrants in these centers; some of centers allow migrants to go out of the center to earn money in order to feed themselves”.
Solidarity Organization for Human Rights reminds the Ministry of Justice of the Government of National Accord that it bears full responsibility for the safety and wellbeing of detainees and prisoners in its twenty-eight (28) prisons[viii], and call on it to[ix]:
- Publish lists of the number of prisoners and detainees in the prisons under its authority[x],
- The release of detainees held without trial, and those who have served the sentence ruled by the court,
- Transfer the rest of the detainees to temporary places of detention with adequate space, ventilation and appropriate sanitation facilities, to reduce the possibility of infection spreading among the detainees,
- Transfer the detainees held at Mitiga air base, which is under constant shelling by the Haftar’s militia, to a safer place,
- Transfer of detainees whose health condition has deteriorated to medical centers for treatment, and
- Provide health care and healthy food for the detainees.
HRS calls on the GNA’s Ministry of Interior to close the AIIA’s detention centers, coordinate with international agencies to transport migrants to their countries, within the framework of the voluntary return program managed by the International Organization for Migration, or to a third country. Otherwise let the migrants free[xi], they are less than 1% of the number of migrants in Libya.
Human Rights Solidarity
Tripoli – Libya
[i] Ministry of Justice, Libya: “Directive on compliance with measures taken by the Ministry of Justice to address the threat of the spread of (Corona virus)”, 16th March 2020 (Arabic).
[ii] Human Rights Council, 43rd Regular Session: “Situation of human rights in Libya, and the effectiveness of technical assistance and capacity-building measures received by the Government of Libya”, Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 23rd January 2020. Paragraph (56): “During the period under review, an estimated 8,813 individuals were held in 28 official prisons under the authority of the Ministry of Justice, of whom an estimated 60 per cent were in pretrial detention. In total, 278 women were detained, including 184 non-Libyans, and 109 children were held in prisons in the custody of the Judicial Police”.
[iii] Current Libyan Constitution is the Constitutional Declaration adopted by the National Transitional Council, 3rd August 2011. Article (31): “There shall be no crime or penalty except by virtue of the text of the law. Any defendant shall be innocent until he is proved guilty by a fair trial wherein, he shall be granted the guarantees necessary to defend himself. Each and every citizen shall have the right to recourse to the judiciary in accordance with the law”.
[iv] Libyan Security Section Legislation: “Law No. (5) of 2005 on Correction and Rehabilitation Institutions”.
[v] United Nations: “Universal Declaration of Human Rights”.
[vi] Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights: “International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights”.
[vii] Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 23rd January 2020, paragraph (62).
[viii] Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 23rd January 2020, paragraph (56).
[ix] If the Ministry of Justice cannot guarantee the rights of the detainees and guarantee their safety in these difficult times, it must release the prisoners and the detainees temporarily. Iran has released 85,000 prisoners, including political prisoners, in response to the spread of the Corona virus, after more than a month of the spread of the virus realized that it is unable to guarantee the wellbeing of the prisoners.
[x] There are no official figures of the number of detainees in Libya. Till now, no independent party has been able to visit Mitiga detention center, neither human rights organizations nor the Human Rights Section of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya. Hence, the number of detainees at Mitiga is unknown, but it is believed that it holds more than 3’600 detainees, including women and children. “In western Libya, UNSMIL was only able to visit Jdaidah [Tripoli], Al Jawiya [Airforce Academy, Misrata] and Ain Zara (A) [Tripoli] prisons”, Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 23rd January 2020, paragraph (62).
[xi] According to the IOM’s report “Libya — Migrant Report 28 (Oct-Dec 2019)”, there are ~655 thousand migrants, from 40 countries, in Libya. According to the report of the UN HCHR, 23rd January 2020, paragraph (37), there are ~4500 migrants held at AIIA’s detention centers, this constitutes approximately 0.7% of the total number of migrants in Libya.
