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Oxfam and 43 other organizations have accused European Union governments of being complicit in the "tragedy" of migrants transiting from Libya to Italy, claiming that more than 5,300 people died in mid-January. Mediterranean in the last two years.
Two years after the agreement between Italy and Libya on migration, "people are now even more at risk at sea and are being taken over by the Libyan coastguards to deal with human rights violations." In Libya, "Oxfam said in a statement.
With the support of the EU, Italy and Libya signed in February 2017 an agreement to curb the flow of migrants from North Africa to Italy.
According to the agreement, Italy and the EU had to support the Libyan coastguard, while Tripoli would prevent people from leaving its shores for Europe.
But in the next two years, "More than 4,000 people have drowned in the central Mediterranean alone and more than 5,300 in every corner of the Mediterranean Sea, making it the world's deadliest sea, "said Oxfam.
The statement followed a common letter Oxfam and other humanitarian organizations have urged European governments to stop sending migrants back to Libya.
In their open letter on Wednesday, NGOs said some EU countries had deliberately forced many organizations conducting search and rescue operations to shut down their operations by preventing rescue vessels from leaving their ports.
In January of last year, five organizations were conducting search and rescue missions, but there are more than one, the groups said.
People rescued by the Libyan coastguard are being sent back to Libya, where they "risk being arbitrarily detained, ill-treated, tortured or sold into slavery," according to the open letter.
About 15,000 people were returned to Libya in 2018, according to the UN refugee agency.
A 28-year-old Eritrean man, detained and jailed by various gangs in Libya for a year and a half, told Oxfam that the living conditions of migrants in this North African country were "terrible".
"A lot [migrants] died and were buried like animals. Women have been raped before us, "he said.
"Every day we were beaten by prison guards chosen from the group of migrants … They beat us and called our family to ask them to send us money," he said. added.
SOURCE:
Al Jazeera and news agencies
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