Aid group calls on Libya to end detention of refugees

CAIRO – An international medical aid group has called on Libyan authorities to end arbitrary detention of refugees, migrants and asylum seekers, slamming conditions inside detention facilities in the North African country as “dire,” ”unhealthy” and “abusive.”

Doctors Without Borders, known by the French acronym MSF, said in a statement Friday that medical conditions in detention centres in Tripoli, where the United Nations-backed government is based, are either caused or aggravated by “squalid detention conditions and ill treatment.”

The European Union earmarked tens of millions of euros to improve conditions for migrants inside Libyan detention centres. But the group says international funding to Libya is not the solution and fears the narrow focus on improving facilities legitimizes the arbitrary detention system that harms and exploits people without recourse to the law.