Migrants in Libya, including young girls, face rape and torture, UN office says


FILE PHOTO: Migrants aboard an overcrowded boat are approached by the crew of the migrant search and rescue ship Sea-Watch 5, operated by the German NGO Sea-Watch, during a rescue operation in the Search and Rescue (SAR) zone in the central Mediterranean, off Libya, August 11, 2025. REUTERS/Louisa Gouliamaki/File Photo

Feb 17 (Reuters) - Migrants in Libya, ⁠including young girls, are at risk of being killed, tortured, raped or put into domestic slavery, ⁠according to a U.N. report that called for a moratorium on the return of migrant ‌boats to the country until human rights are ensured.

Libya has become a transit route for migrants fleeing conflict and poverty to Europe across the Mediterranean since the fall in 2011 of dictator Muammar Gaddafi to a NATO-backed uprising. Factional conflict has split the country into ​western and eastern factions since 2014.

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