Over 4,600 Sudanese Refugees in Libya Face Risks of Abuse and Detention

Tripoli - October 18, 2026 - Radio Dabanga: The 'MISHAD' Observatory revealed that 4,638 Sudanese refugees are facing risks of abuse and detention in Libya, issuing an urgent call for international intervention, protection, and accountability. In a report, the Observatory indicated that refugees are being subjected to detention, torture, mistreatment, and financial extortion in more than eleven detention sites, emphasizing the necessity for an urgent response commensurate with the scale of the risks, prioritizing the protection of refugees, saving lives, and ensuring legal accountability. The MISHAD Observatory expressed grave concern regarding the dangerous conditions faced by Sudanese refugees in Libya, based on documented information, testimonies, and reports of detention, torture, mistreatment, and financial extortion, along with the associated grave risks threatening the safety, human dignity, and fundamental rights of the detainees. The Observatory asserts that the gravity of these incidents requires an urgent response that addresses the scale of the risks, prioritizing refugee protection, saving lives, and ensuring legal accountability. Based on field investigative monitoring initiated by the MISHAD Observatory since January 2026, it has documented information concerning 4,638 Sudanese refugees, with its scope covering more than eleven detention sites. The collected information includes data on the conditions of detainees, locations of detention, testimonies regarding torture, mistreatment, financial extortion, and harsh detention conditions, as well as information regarding entities and locations suspected of involvement in these practices. The Observatory stresses that the multiplicity of documentation sources, including survivors, detainees' families, and field actors, highlights the urgent need for independent and prompt action to verify the status of detainees, ensure their safety, continue documenting information, and protect sources. Testimonies and information collected by the Observatory report practices including torture, mistreatment, and financial extortion, such as demands for money in exchange for the release of some detainees, in addition to harsh detention conditions that violate human dignity and endanger health and safety. The MISHAD Observatory believes these incidents raise serious human rights concerns, necessitating independent and transparent investigations, determination of responsibilities based on evidence, the prosecution of anyone proven responsible in accordance with the law, and the guarantee of the victims' rights to protection, redress, and reparation. Calls on the UN and Libyan authorities: The MISHAD Observatory called on the relevant Libyan authorities to take immediate action to disclose the locations of detained Sudanese refugees, ensure their safety, allow independent humanitarian and human rights entities unimpeded access to them, investigate information and allegations related to torture, mistreatment, extortion, and arbitrary detention, and take necessary measures to halt and prevent the recurrence of these violations. It also demands the release of all those held illegally, the provision of medical care, legal assistance, and the ability to communicate with families, and the assurance of special protection for children, women, the sick, and other highly vulnerable individuals. The Observatory calls on the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), the African Union, the League of Arab States, the European Union, and all other relevant international and regional mechanisms to take urgent and coordinated action to verify the conditions of detainees, provide protection and humanitarian and legal assistance, support independent monitoring, ensure access to detention sites, and work toward finding safe protection pathways. The Observatory also urges these entities to exercise their responsibilities to ensure that perpetrators of violations do not escape accountability, and that Sudanese refugees are not left vulnerable to exploitation or inhumane treatment.