Ms Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui:

I will speak about the situation in Libya, which I have experienced for many years. We need to contextualise what is happening there to migrants, refugees and asylum seekers. There is a breakdown in law and order. There are weak institutions, if there are any, and they are not necessarily in control. There are a lot of armed groups, militias and criminal gangs and a lot of the migrants, refugees and asylum seekers fall prey to these groups. The detention centres are formally under control of the Ministry of the interior, more specifically the department for combatting illegal migration. The guards are Libyan and only men, and it is a huge issue that we have vulnerable women and girls being detained by men. However, much of the work is also done by other detainees, depending on whether they speak Arabic.

The conditions in the detention centres are inhumane compared to recommended international standards. People are held arbitrarily for long periods. When one visits these detention centres, those held there describe the anguish of not knowing what is going to happen to them, not knowing why they have been captured or why they have been jailed, not knowing how they can get out or if they can get out.

There is also a lucrative business around this. The best way to get out is to try to bribe one's way out or work one's way out. When one has been considered to have contributed enough or generated enough income, one can be released. For some women, it could be that they are forced into prostitution. In addition to the thousands held in detention centres, there are tens of thousands of people held in the hands of traffickers and smugglers. These traffickers are reckless and ruthless. They are now seeing that reaching Europe is increasingly difficult. Accordingly, the best way to make money is to extort the people. They hold them for longer periods, torturing them and trying to get as much money as possible from their families and their diasporas abroad.

MSF tries to support survivors of trafficking. They present with multiple fractures and torture burns. They are released because the traffickers know they can make no more money from them anymore. To be accused as a NGO to be colluding with traffickers is extremely hurtful. We are dealing with the consequences of the treatment of these people by the traffickers. We are also dealing with young Nigerian girls who we fear are being trafficked for prostitution in Europe. What we try to do is flag their cases to the authorities and to the UN agencies. We try to provide awareness on the boat. We have a system where every woman and girl will have an individual consultation with a nurse or a midwife in order to be able to speak. We have signs everywhere on the boat that there is a risk of trafficking and there can be a way out. To be accused of colluding with traffickers is hurtful. It is certainly incorrect.

Facts seem to no longer matter in the US but also in Europe. This is why we welcome this opportunity to present to the committee so much. We must have policies based on facts.