Libya is faced with various internal issues which impact migration. Firstly the overall security situation. For instance, the lack of a central political actor has led to political, social, and economic instability, to an almost full devoid of the rule of law, to insecurity due to militias’ fighting over territory and political influence, and to an inability from organisations working in Libya to ensure policies’ implementation. Inter-community and inter-regional tensions have made international assistance and monitoring difficult, with organisations such as the IOM having to move its staff to Tunisia. Given the 2011 NATO-led intervention in Libya, the country also remains sceptical about foreign interference.

Another issue facing Libya is its high number of IDPs. According to the IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix, out of the 700,000 to 1 million migrants estimated in Libya, more than 370,000 thousand are internally displaced. IDPs commonly require humanitarian assistance and can represent a strain for their host communities due to possible scarce resources and overstretched basic services. They are also likely to seek illegal migration routes and to experience human rights violation.

Moreover, human rights violations in Libya are widespread and the victims are numerous. Migrants and asylum-seekers are “exposed to arbitrary arrest and abduction by militias and are regularly the victims of human trafficking and abuses by criminal groups.” The Libyan General Directorate for Combatting Illegal Migration (DCIM) is known to continuously perform unlawful systemic detentions of thousands of migrants. The inhumane conditions and violations undertaken in detention centres are well-documented and include exploitation, forced labour, shortages of basic necessities, medical treatment but also torture, kidnapping and rape mainly for extortion. Some detention centres are located in areas of fighting, putting the migrants directly at risk as was shown by the July 2019 Tajoura migrant centre airstrike. These detention centres are mainly populated by migrants intercepted at sea by the Libyan Coast Guard. The EU and particularly Italy’s continued support of Libya’s maritime activities which directly promotes detention practices needs to be reassessed.