AN URGENT CALL FOR THE RELEASE OF REFUGEES AND ASYLUM SEEKERS WHO ARE CURRENTLY HELD IN ALMABANI AND OTHER DETENTION CENTERS AFTER AN UNJUST CRACKDOWNS ON THEIR HOMES.
 

Dear readers,
 

We are a group of refugees and activists from Southern and Northern Sudan. We are writing this letter to raise our concerns and worries that we have about our brothers, sisters, husbands, wives and children who are currently held in Detention centers despite being persons of concern to the office of UNHCR Libya.

We continue to call upon the relevant authorities of Libya and the UN organization to immediately release them, and not to deport them to countries where their lives are threatened.
 

We also would like to bring to your attention that we are refugees and not criminals as portrayed in the media, that refugees are committing crimes or involved in other illegal activities, being a refugee is not a crime and it shouldn't be one in Libya. We understand that this crackdown was done based on the unverified reports that  Gargaresh is home to drugs and prostitution, but it doesn't mean that pregnant women and children are criminals.
 

The authorities must also admit that Being a refugee is just a temporary status not a nationality, no one chooses to be a refugee. Most of these people were forced out of their homes by circumstances beyond human control.

We also call upon the EU who have been massively funding the Libyan coast guards to adjust the laws that govern these funds, with respect to human rights.

The EU has legal obligations to ensure that its actions do not violate human rights.

The systematic human rights abuses in detention centers are well-known to EU Member States and institutions when designing the cooperation with Libya.
 

The EU through the back door is funding and equipping militias and the coast guards.

For many years, the EU and particular member states have poured millions of euros into programs to beef up the Libyan Coast Guard's capacity to intercept boats leaving Libya, fully aware that everyone is then automatically detained in indefinite, arbitrary detention without judicial review.

We also call upon the Libyan government to respect and follow the rules and agreements that ensures the existence of the UNHCR in Libya as an organization.
 

Because we have and are experiencing so much disrespect to the documents provided to refugees and asylum seekers in Libya, which states that, they are persons of concern to its commission and therefore should be protected, and by no given circumstance shall he/she get forcibly returned to a country where his/her life is threatened.

But in reality, we are seeing the opposite of what it states in the given document, a refugee can't use the document to move from a state to another state within Libya, without forcibly detention, robbery, torture and forced labor.

We also call upon countries like Australia, Asia, US, Canada and the European states to offer more rooms for resettlement, Family reunion, medical treatments, Job opportunities and Scholarships to refugees who are currently stuck in Libya.
 

Last but not least, we are calling upon the ministry of interior to allow Humanitarian flights to evacuate refugees, Voluntarily Humanitarian Return flights to automatically resume their duties in getting refugees out of the country.

Lastly, we call upon the Libyan government and authorities to give a decree to all checkpoints, workplaces, schools to allow a safe passage to whomever is holding the refugee/ asylum seeker document which is provided to them by the UNHCR in Libya.

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