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If Coronavirus Hits Libyan Detention Centers It Would be a 'Massacre'

Salem Solomon

   WASHINGTON - While much of the world is under orders to practice social
   distancing to slow the spread of coronavirus, there are certain places
   where such distance is impossible.

   Overcrowded migrant detention centers, particularly those in Libya, are
   among the places most at risk for an outbreak. With dozens of people
   sharing a room and little access to running water, these makeshift
   centers can be a breeding ground for disease in normal times. A highly
   contagious airborne virus like coronavirus could spread at lightning
   speed, say experts.

   "Once coronavirus will spread in these detention centers, we are going
   to witness a massacre," GiuliaTranchina, a human rights lawyer based in
   London who represents asylum seekers, told VOA.

   Tranchinasaid most of the camps in Libya are former animal stables or
   hangars where migrants must sleep on the floor or on mattresses packed
   tightly together. Shecited the example ofthe Dhar El-Jebel detention
   camp in the mountains south of Tripoli,where 22 migrants died in one
   year.

   "Because of the lack of food, water sanitation and lack of any medical
   care, so they all died of tuberculosis and starvation," saidTranchina,
   who is in direct contact with some of the refugees in Libya. "So,we can
   imagine what will happen once coronavirus will spread in these
   detention centers."

   'Torture camps run by traffickers'

   Figures about how many migrants are in Libya are difficult to come by.
   A study by the InternationalOrganizationfor Migration (IOM) estimated
   there are between 700,000 and 1 million migrants in the country. The
   U.N. estimated there are about [1]3,000 refugees and migrants
   indetentioncenters.

   Tranchinasaid the official numbers do not tell the whole story. Many
   migrants are held in even worse conditions than those in the official
   centers and are unaccounted for. "There are a lot of detention centers
   run by the militias and the [opposition] forces in the territories that
   they control," she said. "And then there are hundreds of torture camps
   run by traffickers who are torturing people for ransom, raping them and
   enslaving them for many years. And we have no access to these people.
   No U.N. agency has access to these people."

   [2]Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) is one organization on the ground
   giving medical care to migrants. But they are unable to meet the
   overwhelming need. In May 2019, doctors visited the Dhar El-Jebel
   detention center and called the conditions "catastrophic" saying the
   tuberculosis outbreak had been raging for months without treatment.

   "We've been calling repeatedly and continuously for the closure of
   these detention centers and the end of arbitrary detention,"
   SachaPetiot, MSF head of mission in Libya told VOA.

   Petiotsaid a lasting solution would require an opening of temporary
   shelters where migrants could be safe. He also said there must be
   agreements by safe, third-party countries to resettle the migrants. To
   date, such agreements have been hard toget.

   "For the moment, these resettlement slots in the European and Western
   countries are very limited. We're talking about 2,000 slots on average
   by the year,"Petiotsaid. "While the general population of registered
   refugees and asylum seekers is over 46,000, which means that there is a
   huge lag. There is a bottleneck."

References

   1. https://data2.unhcr.org/en/documents/download/74716
   2. https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/what-we-do/news-stories/news/libya-mans-death-detention-center-fire-underscores-urgency-evacuating