GENEVA / LIBYA MIGRANTS

The UN high commissioner for human rights said “the list of violations and abuses faced by migrants in Libya is as long as it is horrific. This is, quite simply, a human rights crisis affecting tens of thousands of people.” OHCHR / FILE

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:01:14
• Production Date: 13 December 2016
• Asset Language: English
• Personal Subject: ZEID RA'AD AL HUSSEIN
• Subject Topical: HUMAN RIGHTS; MIGRANTS
• Geographic Subject: LIBYA
• MAMS Id: 1795566
• Parent Id: 1795566
• Alternate Title: unifeed161213c

Description

STORY: GENEVA / LIBYA MIGRANTS
TRT: 01:14
SOURCE: OHCHR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 13 DECEMBER 2016, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / FILE

Shotlist

FILE – JULY 2016, LAMPEDUSA, ITALY

1. Wide shot, boat
2. Med shot, arrival of migrants

13 DECEMBER 2016, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations:
“The list of violations and abuses faced by migrants in Libya is as long as it is horrific. This is, quite simply, a human rights crisis affecting tens of thousands of people.”

FILE – JULY 2016, LAMPEDUSA, ITALY

4. Wide shot, migrants arrival

13 DECEMBER 2016, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations:
“These are people who, for a range of reasons, feel compelled to leave their own countries and embark on these desperate and precarious journeys. This report lays bare the suffering endured by these migrants who have experienced unimaginable abuse, and in some cases, fallen victim to the despicable trade in human lives.
6. Close up, hands
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations:
“The report serves to deepen our compassion and strengthen our resolve that their rights should be fully protected and respected, whatever their status.”

FILE – JULY 2016, LAMPEDUSA, ITALY

8. Wide shot, migrants arriving

Storyline

The United Nations (UN) human rights office has denounced the ill treatment of migrants in Libya citing the breakdown of the justice system in the country as a major cause for human rights violations, leading to impunity.

A joint human rights report by OHCHR and the UN mission in Libya (UNSMIL) released today said that migrants are being arbitrarily detained and “treated like animals. UN human rights chief Zied Ra’ad Al Hussein said that the list of violations and abuses faced by migrants in Libya, "is as long as it is horrific" adding that, "this is, quite simply, a human rights crisis affecting tens of thousands of people.” The report also highlights the role of traffickers. People smuggled or trafficked through Libya face torture, ill-treatment, forced labour and sexual exploitation en route.

Zeid said that the report "lays bare the suffering endured by these migrants who have experienced unimaginable abuse, and in some cases, fallen victim to the despicable trade in human lives."

The report is calling for greater responsibility for source and destination countries and recommends that countries of destination beyond Libya, including member states of the European Union, continue search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean and ensure that the training and support for the Libyan Coast Guard is accompanied by comprehensive efforts to stop arbitrary detention of migrants and improve their treatment in detention.