UN chief urges Libya to shut migrant detention centers
Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary-general, said 22% of those detained in Libya's holding facilities for migrants are children.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres renewed his call for Libya’s authorities to close migrant detention centers across the country, describing a raft of human rights abuses inside the facilities.
In a report submitted to the Security Council on Thursday, Guterres said more than 2,780 migrants were detained across the war-ravaged country as of July 31. Twenty-two percent of those held are children.
Inside the facilities, men and boys are frequently threatened with violence and their families are pressured to send ransom money, according to the report.
"Migrants and refugees have been shot at when they attempted to escape, resulting in injuries and deaths," the report said. Some considered too weak to survive were even "left on the streets or bushes to die.”
