TRAPPED IN A CYCLE OF VIOLENCE: The Reality for Refugees and Migrants in Libya
On December 16th at 12:00 PM EST, the Libyan American Alliance hosted a conversation with incredible panelists, Mark Micallef, Director of the North Africa and Sahel Observatory for the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime; investigative journalist, Pulitzer Prize winner and Polk Award recipient Ian Urbina of The Outlaw Ocean Project; Human Rights Solidarity senior human rights researcher Ahmed El-Gasir; and the International Rescue Committee’s Libya Country Director Thomas Garofalo.
The Libyan American Alliance is grateful for the attendance of and statement from our special guest, John Pennell, Director of USAID’s Libya program operating out of the Libya External Office in Tunis.
Moderated by expert Dr. William Lawrence, the conversation examined the trends of trafficking and smuggling of Sub-Saharan and North African refugees and migrants; the government collusion between Libyan authorities and criminal actors; the European-funded Libyan Coast Guard “pull-back” operations; the systematic human rights abuses at disembarkation points, DCIM detention centers and holding facilities; and the role of militias in the circular extortion economy.
