As the Interior ministers of Italy, Malta and Greece – accompanied by the European Commissioner for Migration – concluded an official visit to Tripoli on 8 July 2025, NGOs once again sounded the alarm. Behind the official rhetoric of ‘combating illegal immigration’ lie far darker realities: the systematic and widespread violation of migrants’ fundamental rights.

During the meeting, Abdelhamid Dbeibah, the head of Libya’s Government of National Unity, announced the launch of a “vast national campaign” to halt irregular migration, backed by several European countries. This includes tighter border, sea and urban controls, the expulsion of millions of migrants, and partial regularisation reserved only for those deemed ‘useful’ to the Libyan economy.

Officially, the aim of this cooperation is to stop migrants from leaving the Libyan coast, which has once again become a major route to Europe. Since January, nearly 27,000 migrants have attempted the sea crossing to Italy – a 50% increase compared to 2024. However, this migration policy, which is largely funded and logistically supported by the European Union, comes at a devastating human cost.

The Hidden Reality: torture, rape and extortion

Since 2017, an agreement between Italy, Libya and the EU has allowed the Libyan coastguard, funded and equipped by Rome and Brussels, to intercept migrant boats in the central Mediterranean. Those intercepted while fleeing war, dictatorship or poverty are forcibly returned to Libya and detained in infamous camps.

Testimonies collected by Médecins sans frontières (MSF) paint a harrowing picture of abuse, including rape, forced labour and the extortion of families for ransom. Between January 2023 and February 2025, MSF’s Palermo project assisted 160 survivors of torture who had passed through Libya. Of these, 82% reported experiencing abuse. The methods used were consistently brutal, including beatings, burns, mutilation, electrocution and suffocation.

Alleged European complicity

For Amnesty International, this latest visit is a cause for concern. “The EU’s cooperation with Libya on migration is devoid of morality,” the organisation states, accusing Brussels of complicity in “horrific human rights violations”. Despite overwhelming evidence and repeated NGO reports, the EU continues to fund and legitimise a migration control system based on confinement and violence.

The situation is further complicated by Libya’s political fragmentation. On 8 July, the European delegation was turned away from Benghazi in eastern Libya, which is controlled by a rival government that opposes the UN-recognised administration in Tripoli. This instability continues to fuel smuggling networks and worsen conditions for stranded migrants.

People forgotten in the name of migration control

By supporting the Libyan authorities, the European Union is effectively outsourcing control of its southern border without ensuring the protection of fundamental rights. Far from achieving the proclaimed goal of ‘combating human trafficking’, this partnership is helping to trap men, women and children in a cycle of abuse and violence from which there is no clear escape.

Amnesty International and other humanitarian organisations are calling for an immediate reassessment of EU-Libya cooperation. Their demands include an end to sea interceptions or expulsions and the closure of detention centres. However, for the time being, Europe largely chooses to look away, allowing a system to persist in which migration control is prioritised over human dignity.