Our Story
Refugees in Libya was born from survival, collective resistance and the refusal of people abandoned in Libya to remain silent.
​
On 1 October 2021, Libyan security forces and armed groups affiliated with the Ministry of Interior carried out a violent raid in Gargaresh, Tripoli. Homes and belongings were destroyed. Thousands of refugees and migrants—including children, women, sick people and persons with disabilities—were seized, forced into buses and military vehicles, and taken to detention camps. Those who escaped or were later released had lost almost everything.
​
The following day, survivors began to organise. We gathered outside the UNHCR office in Tripoli and launched what became the 100 Days Protest. For more than three months, thousands of people demanded evacuation to safety, fair and dignified treatment by UNHCR, an end to European support for Libya’s interception and detention system, justice for those murdered, tortured and arbitrarily detained, and recognition of refugee rights in a country that has never signed the 1951 Refugee Convention.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
From that mobilisation emerged Refugees in Libya.
We were not created to speak on behalf of refugees. We were created by refugees to speak, organise and act for ourselves. What began as a protest became a movement: documenting abuses, supporting people in emergencies, operating a multilingual hotline, organising across borders, confronting institutions and pursuing accountability.
​
As some founding members remained in Libya and others reached Europe, the movement expanded without losing its centre. Our work now connects communities across North Africa and Europe, from emergency protection and documentation to campaigns, strategic litigation and international advocacy.
​
On 1 July 2024, Refugees in Libya was formally founded as an organisation. On 19 July 2024, it became a legally registered association in Italy. Registration did not create us. It gave legal form to a struggle already built through years of resistance.
​
Today, Refugees in Libya is both an organisation and a living movement. We stand for dignity, justice, accountability and freedom of movement. We challenge border violence, arbitrary detention, institutional abandonment and impunity. We believe that those most affected by these systems must lead the struggle to transform them.
​
Our story began with people who were told they had no voice—and who answered by becoming impossible to ignore.