Young migrants, refugees and asylum seekers experience systematic abuse in Libya, according to a report released just yesterday.

They are subjected to arbitrary detention under dire conditions for months at a time, which has been found to be one of the main reasons why migrants and refugees are fleeing Libya by boats for Europe.

These are among the findings in a new report from the Mixed Migration Hub.

The situation in Libya is getting increasingly out of control. Two different governments and a number of militias are fighting over power in the country on the edge of civil war. The country is in chaos and no legal system is in place to handle the cases from the many migrants, refugees and asylum seekers who are in Libya, many of whom are experiencing serious human rights abuses, violence and other abuses.

"Sadly, it confirms the picture we have had, for some time, of the situation in Libya. It is a country in chaos and hence, the people with the fewest rights are being harmed the most. The report shows a wide range of violent abuses and violations of rights in some of Libya’s most notorious detention centres. The report also confirms that the disastrous situation in Libya is a contributing factor to the growing number of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees who are willing to risk their lives in the Mediterranean to reach safety in Europe. What they come from is simply worse than the dangerous trip in the boats," says Ann Mary Olsen, International Director of the Danish Refugee Council, which forms part of the Mixed Migration Hub.

Ali, aged 23, from Southern Somalia originally fled after the terror group Al-Shabaab had conquered his hometown and had shot his father and three of his siblings. He fled to Kenya, but one day he received a threatening phone call from a guy who claimed to be from Al-Shabaab, and thus he continued his flight.

“Problems started when we got to the border with Libya. We were attacked by a group of Libyans; they hit us with guns and sticks, raped two of the women in front of everyone, and ran off with all our money and possessions. We were also stopped by smugglers who demanded money. The police then turned up and took us to a detention centre for being in Libya without documents. I was kept there for nine months.”

“The guards had weapons and beat us every day. They made us take off our clothes, lie down and then they beat us. Every day, for nine months,” says Ali.

He was detained in a detention facility which he called ‘Duishi’ in Tripoli between 2012 and 2013. He was interviewed in Malta in December 2014. The name ‘Ali’ is a pseudonym.

Another interviewee explains how he made his way to Malta eventually: “I was fine before entering the [Libyan] facility but got sick once I was there, with a skin condition that everyone was suffering from.  The medicines didn’t work and eventually the police just let me go because of the illness.

“I met some Somali people, after leaving the detention centre, who were planning to get a boat to Europe. I stayed with them; they helped me and got me some medicine for my skin condition. I was longing to go to a safe place; I didn’t mind where and was thinking of going back to Sudan when I heard about the journey awaiting us on the boat to Europe: the sea is 50:50 - you die or you survive. “The smugglers wanted USD 1000 for the journey across. I didn’t have the money and the group collected USD 400 for me and the smugglers accepted. We were at sea for two days and then landed in Malta. I have now been in Malta for over a year, I work sometimes but mostly I’m unemployed. I attend language classes and am looking to further my studies.

“The only problem I feel is that I lost my family…when I remember, I feel a lot of stress…sometimes, when I am sleeping at night, I remember a lot about Libya...the police killing me, then I wake up. Bad dreams....”

"The report confirms, first, that we have to deal with the increasing degree of mixed migration - that people move for a variety of reasons. In the detention centres in Libya, nobody distinguishes between whether people are in need of protection or not. But it also confirms that we in Europe cannot close in around ourselves and believe that the refugee problem will disappear by itself. We need to proactively decide to help these people in need. It requires joint European solutions," says Ms Olsen.

The report draws on in-depth interviews with 45 former detainees (85 per cent of whom were unaccompanied children or young people). The fieldwork was conducted between November 2014 and February 2015 in Italy, Malta, France and the UK.

The full report can be found at: http://www.mixedmigrationhub.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/MHUB_2015_Detained-Youth.pdf