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Despite competing for power, Libya's rival authorities in the east and west have united in stoking anti-migrant rhetoric and launching a violent campaign of mass detention and expulsions against migrants and refugees, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Thursday.
According to the rights watchdog, both the western-based administration in Tripoli and its eastern rival have deployed “incendiary rhetoric” and pursued a crackdown on migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees, fueling a wave of xenophobia and triggering anti-migrant protests.
“Rival Libyan authorities have united in fueling xenophobic protests and subjecting migrants to mass arrests, arbitrary detention in inhumane conditions, and collective expulsions,” said Hanan Salah, associate Middle East and North Africa director at HRW. “With thousands of people detained and at risk of expulsion, the scale of the abuses, and the urgency of stopping them, could not be clearer.”
Driving the escalating hostility are rumors that refugees and migrants will be permanently “settled” in the country. Both rival administrations amplified this rhetoric through separate statements rejecting permanent settlement, with both sides announcing plans to intensify the arrest and expulsion of undocumented migrants.
The nationwide amplification of this rhetoric culminated in major demonstrations on June 4, 2026. Hundreds of protesters blocked access to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Tripoli's Sarraj neighborhood, demanding the expulsion of migrants and refugees.
The UN expressed concern the next day over the “violent protests,” pointing to social media disinformation targeting its work. The UN Support Mission in Libya later clarified that the refugee agency has no plans to permanently settle migrants in the country.
Nevertheless, the crackdown on the ground has continued to escalate, translating into a sharp rise in forced removals. In eastern Libya, the Directorate to Counter Illegal Migration announced on June 11 that it had ramped up operations under orders from the Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF). The agency reported holding 7,596 people pending deportation, adding that 10,133 migrants had already been expelled in recent months.
Amid this ongoing crackdown and documented abuses by rival authorities, the European Union is actively moving to expand its migration cooperation with these very actors to further contain refugees and migrants in Libya, notably in eastern Libya, Amnesty International warned last month.
“The EU has long bankrolled migration control in Libya with its support to the Libyan Coast Guard, which has already made it complicit in horrific violations and abuses,” said Diana Eltahawy, Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.
Just last May, an armed vessel affiliated with the Libyan Coast Guard opened fire on a migrant rescue ship shortly after the crew pulled 90 people from an overcrowded wooden boat in the Mediterranean. With such attacks recurring, human rights organizations have long criticized the EU for funding and equipping the Libyan Coast Guard to intercept migrants in order to curb irregular migration to Europe.
Libya, a major transit point for migrants attempting to reach Europe, has become an increasingly hostile environment as people making the trek face widespread abuses and inhumane conditions at the hands of security forces and militias.
While the country remains a primary transit hub, migrants face a wide array of perils ranging from systemic exploitation and physical violence to death. Security forces and militias have been widely accused of perpetrating abuses in migrant detention facilities across the country. A February 2025 report detailed the horrific experiences within these detention centers, where human trafficking victims recounted being captured in Tunisia and sold to Libyan armed groups. Many were held in these camps until their families could pay ransoms, which in some cases exceeded $700.
The human toll of the crisis was further highlighted through mid-2025 by the discovery of a series of mass graves containing hundreds of migrants at various locations across the country. One site where authorities discovered 10 charred bodies was the former headquarters for the Stability Support Apparatus (SSA), a security force that operated under the Presidential Council until May 2025. An additional 67 bodies were found in hospital refrigerators, while another burial site was uncovered at the Tripoli Zoo, an area previously under the security force’s control.
