Amnesty International: EU Accomplice in Crime Against Migrants

European governments are accomplices in torture and abuse of immigrants in Libya.

Amnesty International claims that in trying to curb EU immigration, it is actively supporting a system of abuses and exploitation on Libya's coast.

According to the organisation's report, EU funds are going into the hands of authorities who co-operate with militia and human trafficking. The European Union has offered ships, training and funding to the Libyan coastal guard.

The African country is the main crossing for immigrants who want to go to Europe. But the number of those who reached the Italian coast -- the main destination for ships crossing the Mediterranean -- dropped significantly due to financial support for the Libyan coastal guard.

The Amnist claims that the coast guard is working with criminal gangs and human traffickers, who according to the human rights organization, are responsible for a variety of abuses.

EU officials are aware of these abuses, the report suggests. Refugees and migrants captured by Libyan coastal guards are sent to detention centres filed by the Directorate General for Combating Illegal Migration. The Amnist claims that some 20 thousand people were currently being held in these centres and that according to witnesses many of the refugees are subjected there to torture, forced labor, extortion, and even murder.