The United Nations’ Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is condemning the forced expulsion of asylum seekers and migrants by Libyan authorities, warning of the risks many face when returned to the homes they fled to escape persecution. Two large groups of Sudanese are among those forcibly deported from Libya over the past month. United Nations monitors say most have been summarily expelled from the Ganfouda and al-Kufra detention centers. Both centers are controlled by the Interior Ministry’s Department for Combatting illegal Migration. The monitors say the Sudanese apparently have been transported across the Sahara Desert to the Libya-Sudan border and dumped there. The U.N. Human Rights Office says Libya’s expulsion of the Sudanese asylum seekers and migrants without due process and procedural guarantees violates international human rights and refugee law. U.N. spokesman Rupert Colville says the group of 18 Sudanese expelled Monday reportedly were arrested, detained, and arbitrarily expelled. He says no hearing was held to assess their need for protection from persecution, torture, and other abuse in their home country. He says they were not granted legal assistance.
SOURCE: VOA