MSF and Mediterranee teams on board the Ocean Viking rescuing people from a overcrowded wooden boat
In 2020, refugees, asylum seekers and migrants trapped in war-torn Libya were left even more vulnerable as armed conflict escalated and COVID-19 spread across the country.

Although some detention centres closed in 2020, thousands of men, women, and children remained held in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions with little access to healthcare, insufficient food and drinking water, and no possibility of physical distancing.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) continued to provide medical and mental healthcare in detention centres in Tripoli, Khoms, Zliten, Zuwara, and Zintan. Our teams also worked to improve access to water and other basic services, reinforce COVID-19 infection prevention and control measures and refer the most vulnerable cases to protection agencies.

 

In February, a 26-year-old Eritrean man lost his life when a fire broke out in the overcrowded Dhar El-Jebel detention centre in Zintan. We offered psychological support to survivors of the fire and distributed basic necessities to replace items they had lost while reiterating our call for the end of arbitrary detention of migrants and refugees in Libya.

The vast majority of the estimated 650,000 migrants currently in Libya live on the streets, exposed to arbitrary arrest and detention, human trafficking, exploitation, and severe violence. Most of those detained are in clandestine prisons and warehouses run by people smugglers rather than official centres.

In Bani Walid, our teams offered general healthcare and medical referrals to refugees and migrants who had escaped from captivity, and to victims of torture and trafficking. Throughout 2020, refugees and migrants were subjected to numerous violent attacks; for example, at disembarkation points where the Libyan coastguard forcibly returns those who try to flee.

On 28 July, our teams responded with medical and psychological care after a shooting at a disembarkation site in Khoms that left three teenagers dead. Tuberculosis (TB) care is another focus of our activities in Libya. Our teams work in three TB facilities: two in Tripoli and one in Misrata, a 17-bed clinic that we opened in March.

No. staff in 2020: 153 (FTE) » Expenditure in 2020: €6.8 million MSF first worked in the country: 2011

 
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Refugees, Migration and displacement

Libya: Time running out for evacuations of helpless refugees and migrants amid reports of brutal shooting

Press Release 26 Apr 2019
 
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Libya: alarming rates of malnutrition and inhumane conditions in Tripoli detention centre

Crisis Update 20 Mar 2019
 
A shipwreck survivor in a Libyan detention centre. [ © Sara Creta/ MSF ]
Refugees, Migration and displacement

After forced disembarkation, refugees and migrants rescued by the Nivin merchant ship still at risk in Libya

Project Update 10 Dec 2018
 
Videos and Photos

Forced to stop Search and Rescue

8 Dec 2018
Videos and Photos
 
MSF & SOS Méditerranée have been forced to terminate operations by the search and rescue vessel Aquarius. [ © Ikram N'gadiI ]
Refugees, Migration and displacement

Aquarius forced to terminate operations as Europe condemns people to drown

Press Release 7 Dec 2018
 
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Mental Health

Mental health in Africa: Why it matters for young people

Crisis Update 10 Oct 2018