EU urged to stop funding to Libya after ‘horrific’ mass graves found

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and civil society groups expressed alarm in a joint statement over the "shocking and horrific" uncovering of mass graves in southeastern Libya last week. 

The two mass graves contained the remains of Sub-Saharan people who had likely been trafficked while migrating through Libya.

Libyan authorities found 19 bodies in Jakharrah, while 59 bodies were uncovered in a mass grave in the district of Kufra, near a site where they were allegedly detained and tortured.

The United Nations' International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said the police discovered the graves during a raid that saw hundreds of mistreated people removed from the custody of human traffickers.

It added that some of the bodies bore gunshot wounds and that "as many as 70" others may have been buried in Kufra.

Libyan authorities said three people were arrested, "one Libyan and two foreigners".

The discovery comes as notorious Libyan warlord Osama Najim Almasri was released by Italy shortly after he was detained under an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Almasri is facing charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes, including murder, torture, rape and sexual violence against detainees, particularly migrants and asylum seekers, while overseeing the running of various prisons as director of the Reform and Rehabilitation Institution of the Libyan Judicial Police. 

The arrest warrant is connected with the court’s investigation into alleged crimes committed in Libya since February 2015.

'Wake up call'

MEP Tineke Strik said the discovery of the mass graves ought to be a "wake up call" for the European Commission to cease funding and cooperation programmes with Libya. 

"The discovery of these mass graves is yet another horrible confirmation of the crimes against humanity that migrants face in Libya, perpetrated by state security forces and armed militia groups," Strik said.

The signatories of the joint statement included Human Rights Watch, various search and rescue missions, rights groups in Egypt, Greece, Tunisia, and Libya.

"In Libya the torture and killing of migrants in detention, their abandonment at sea or in the desert; being held in conditions akin to slavery; being subject to starvation and other serious human rights violations have been documented extensively by the UN’s Independent Fact Finding Mission on Libya and other bodies," the statement said.

"It is clear that European Union (EU) migration funding to Libya, as well as migration funding to Libya from EU member states including Italy and France, has not delivered on its promise to improve conditions for people seeking safety."

Last March, the bodies of 65 people believed to be migrating through Libya were found in a mass grave in the southwest of the country.

In 2022, a United Nations fact-finding mission into Libya produced a damning report detailing a plethora of human rights abuses exacted against refugees and migrants.

The EU donated $487m between 2015-21 to Libya through the Emergency Trust Fund for Africa, with operations expected to continue until the end of 2025. 

In 2023, the EU handed over five boats to the Libyan Coastguard. 

"The grim discovery of new mass graves in Libya is yet more evidence that after over a decade of EU support for Libyan security forces, lethal and inhuman conditions for people seeking safety still prevail," said David Yambio from Refugees in Libya.