David Yambio is a South Sudanese human rights defender, community organiser, investigator, and Executive Director and co-founder of Refugees in Libya. Drawing on lived experience of displacement, conflict, and Libya’s detention system, he leads the organisation’s work on survivor-led documentation, strategic litigation, investigations, advocacy, and accountability for crimes committed against refugees and migrants across North Africa and the Central Mediterranean. He has contributed to proceedings before international and regional accountability mechanisms, including the International Criminal Court, and collaborates with survivors, legal practitioners, journalists, researchers, and social movements to challenge impunity and advance freedom of movement, dignity, and justice.

Naeima Yaqoub is a co-founder and President of Refugees in Libya. Born and raised in Libya, she grew up facing exclusion, racism and discrimination despite considering the country her home. Trained as a nurse, she experienced arbitrary detention and repeated attempts to escape Libya, only to be intercepted and returned. In 2021, she became one of the leaders of the 100-day refugee protest in Tripoli, helping to establish Refugees in Libya. Since her resettlement to Sweden in 2022, she has continued to advocate for refugee rights, combining community work with international advocacy for justice, protection and freedom of movement.

Salahadine Djouma Abdallah is Vice President of Refugees in Libya and oversees the organisation’s French-speaking unit. Born in the village of Ajabana in West Darfur, Sudan, he fled to Chad as a child in 2003, where he grew up in a refugee camp. After moving to Libya in 2021, he joined the 100-day refugee protest in Tripoli following the Gargaresh raid and was detained for 18 months in Ain Zara detention centre. Since reaching France after his release, he has continued to advocate for refugee rights, coordinating Refugees in Libya’s work with French-speaking communities while contributing to the organisation’s international advocacy and campaigns.

Mahamat Daoud is Treasurer of Refugees in Libya and coordinates the organisation’s multilingual emergency hotline (RUSH), supporting refugees and migrants facing urgent situations across North Africa. Born in Darfur, Sudan, he was displaced by conflict at the age of six and grew up in a refugee camp in Chad. After surviving persecution and detention in Libya, he became one of the leaders of the 100-day refugee protest in Tripoli and later continued his journey to Europe. Based in Italy, he combines community support with advocacy, documentation and humanitarian coordination, working to ensure that people at risk can access timely assistance while advancing Refugees in Libya’s mission for justice, protection and freedom of movement.

Lam Magok is Project Manager of the TACKLE Project at Refugees in Libya. Originally from South Sudan, he is a refugee rights advocate and community organiser with lived experience of displacement and migration. Through the TACKLE Project, he coordinates initiatives that challenge racial discrimination and structural racism while strengthening refugee-led advocacy and community participation. His work combines project coordination, partnerships and community engagement to advance equality, human rights and freedom of movement across the Euro-Mediterranean region.

Abdulrahman Kelta is Project Coordinator of the TACKLE Project at Refugees in Libya. An Ethiopian survivor of trafficking and torture in Libya, he combines lived experience with community leadership and advocacy. Through the TACKLE Project, he helps coordinate activities aimed at combating racial discrimination and structural racism, supporting refugee-led initiatives, and strengthening collaboration between civil society organisations across the Euro-Mediterranean region. His work focuses on community empowerment, anti-racism and the protection of people on the move.

Braka is a Sudanese war survivor, human rights defender, and investigator documenting abuses against refugees and migrants in Libya. Based on years of experience gathering survivor testimonies and evidence, his work focuses on human trafficking, torture, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, and other serious human rights violations. As a Field Officer at Refugees in Libya, he supports investigations, documentation, and research that contribute to advocacy, accountability efforts, and the protection of people on the move.

Maryam Zakaria is a Community Health Advocate at Refugees in Libya and a survivor of the Darfur conflict, trafficking, detention, and forced return from the Mediterranean to Libya. After participating in the 2021 refugee-led protest in Tripoli, where she advocated for the rights and protection of refugee women, she was evacuated through the Emergency Transit Mechanism and later resettled in Germany. She continues to promote refugee rights, community well-being, and the inclusion of women’s perspectives in humanitarian and human rights advocacy.

Nadia Abdu is a Community Advocate at Refugees in Libya and an Eritrean-Sudanese refugee rights defender based in Germany. A survivor of trafficking, torture, arbitrary detention, and gender-based violence, she became one of the leading women’s voices during the 100-day refugee protest in front of UNHCR in Tripoli in 2021. Today, she advocates for the rights of refugees and migrants, with a particular focus on women, survivors of violence, and people trapped along the Central Mediterranean migration route.

Ayoub Sidick Adam is a Humanitarian Outreach Specialist at Refugees in Libya and a refugee rights advocate based in France. Having survived the migration route through Libya, he combines lived experience with humanitarian engagement to support refugees and migrants across Europe and North Africa. His work focuses on community outreach, humanitarian assistance, advocacy, and strengthening connections between affected communities and civil society to ensure that survivors’ voices remain central to efforts for justice and protection.

Biruk Bulto is an Interpreter and Survivor Outreach Officer at Refugees in Libya, based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. An Ethiopian national, he plays a key role in communicating with survivors and refugee communities, ensuring that testimonies and urgent information are accurately conveyed across languages. Fluent in Amharic, Afaan Oromo, and English, he facilitates interpretation during interviews, documentation, and advocacy work while supporting outreach to survivors and strengthening Refugees in Libya’s engagement with Ethiopian refugee communities.

Koryom Paul is a South Sudanese refugee rights advocate and Member and Advocacy Representative of Refugees in Libya, based in Belgium. He fled to Libya in 2016, where he survived torture, enslavement, arbitrary detention, ransom captivity, forced labour, and being sold between trafficking networks. During repeated attempts to reach safety in Europe, he was intercepted several times by the so-called Libyan Coast Guard and forcibly returned to Libya. He eventually reached Europe in 2019. Drawing on these experiences and his continued involvement in collective organising, Koryom speaks publicly about border violence, detention and enslavement in Libya, and the responsibility of European institutions. In June 2026, he addressed the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on behalf of Refugees in Libya.