For many, the journey is characterized by extreme human rights abuses perpetuated by smugglers and in some cases state officials.
Each year, hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants risk their lives in the waters of the Mediterranean and the cold mountain steppes of the Balkans, escaping conflicts or economic hardship in their home countries, with the hope of reaching Europe via Libya, Türkiye or Greece. A huge number of these migrants make these dangerous journeys with the assistance of smugglers, after paying them thousands of dollars.
For many, the journey ends on the shores of Turkish, Greek or Libyan beaches, after failing in their attempt to cross into Europe, while many others suffer extreme human rights abuses on irregular journeys between West and East Africa and Africa’s Mediterranean coast.
Killings and widespread violence of the most brutal nature, perpetrated against desperate people fleeing war, violence and persecution, has for too long remained largely invisible.
A report released by the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, and the Mixed Migration Centre (MMC) at the Danish Refugee Council, titled ‘On this journey, no one cares if you live or die’, details how most people taking these routes suffer or witness unspeakable brutality and inhumanity at the hands of smugglers, traffickers, militias and in some cases even State officials.
Data collection program suggest a minimum of 72 deaths per month, making it one of the most deadly routes for refugees and migrants in the world. These deaths are in addition to the thousands who have died or gone missing, while attempting desperate journeys to Europe.
Around 28 per cent of deaths reported in 2018 and 2019 happened as people attempted to cross the Sahara Desert. Other hotspots for fatalities included Sabha, Kufra, and Qatrun in southern Libya, the smuggling hub of Bani Walid south-east of Tripoli and several places along the West African section of the route including Bamako and Agadez.
The men, women and children who survive are often left with lasting and severe mental health issues as a result of the traumas they faced. For many, their arrival in Libya is the final staging post on a journey characterized by horrific abuses including random killings, torture, forced labor and beatings.
Others continue to report being subjected to brutal violence, including being burnt with hot oil, melted plastic, or heated metal objects, electrocution and being tied in stress positions.
As desperate migrants are transported across borders through a vast illegal network, their smugglers carry out roll calls at regular intervals during the long-convoluted itinerary to confirm every migrant’s journey has been fully paid up.
While most migrants pay agents, these shady middlemen usually do not always pay the smugglers the full amount. When migrants duped by agents become stranded along the way, things turn ugly. They are often taken and held arbitrarily in unofficial centers or warehouses controlled by smugglers and traffickers who subject them to physical abuse in order to extract payments.
The only way duped migrants regain their freedom from unforgiving smugglers is to have family or friends pay exorbitant ransoms. If the ransom isn’t paid up, there is only one other way for smugglers to recoup the money, selling duped migrants off in Libya’s infamous slave markets.
Turning Away Migrants
Turkish government and human rights groups accuse the Greek authorities of turning away migrants trying to reach Europe, which is illegal under international law.
Although the pushbacks of migrants from Asia, the Middle East and Africa heading to Europe by Greek authorities to Turkey without any formal interview or asylum procedure has been condemned for years, the practice still persists.
The latest statistics, between 2010 and 2023, show Türkiye rescued 184,175 irregular migrants from its seas after they put their lives in danger with the hope of reaching Europe.
Some 923 migrants, on the other hand, ended up dead on perilous journeys in the same period, while 503 people remain unaccounted for after their boats sank.
Turkish authorities recently recovered the bodies of seven irregular migrants. They rescued 18 others in the Aegean off the coast of an islet after their boat was pushed back by Greek security forces and hit the tricks, sinking with 27 on board.
Ankara and global rights groups have repeatedly condemned Greece’s illegal practice, saying it violates humanitarian values and international law by endangering the lives of vulnerable migrants, including women and children.
Pushbacks violate multiple human rights norms, including the prohibition of collective expulsion under the European Convention on Human Rights, the right to due process in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the principle of nonrefoulement under the 1951 Refugee Convention.
Greece is also bound by EU law enshrined in article 18 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, as amended by the 2007 Treaty of Lisbon, to respect the right to asylum. Greece is currently constructing a fence along this border to prevent illegal crossings.
Way Forward
Migration pressures from Asia, the Middle East and Africa are expected to continue as the continent’s population grows, young people struggle to find employment and protracted conflicts continue.
Strong leadership and concerted action are needed by States in the region, with support from the international community, to end these cruelties, protect the victims and prosecute the criminals responsible.
These measures must go hand in hand with efforts to address the root causes that drive these journeys and an unequivocal commitment to ensuring that no one rescued at sea is returned to danger in Libya.
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