Libya is to close three of its largest migrant detention centres, including one which was hit by an airstrike last month during fighting between rival forces.
Fathi Bashagha, interior minister with the UN-recognised government in Tripoli, has reportedly ordered the closure of camps in Khoms, Misrata and Tajoura following international condemnation of the "inhuman" conditions within them.
The latter was damaged by an airstrike in July that killed more than 50 people, mostly migrants, during fighting between forces loyal to the Tripoli-based government of national accord (GNA) and rival forces under the command of Benghazi-based General Khalifa Haftar.
There are questions over where the displaced migrants will go and fears that they will simply be moved to other detention centres, worsening overcrowding.
There are an estimated 600,000 migrants in Libya, many of them from sub-Saharan African countries, and they are held in squalid conditions in warehouses, camps, detention centres and private houses.
Reuters
Most traveled to Libya in the hope of crossing the Mediterranean and reaching Italy but the route has been reduced to a trickle after the EU beefed up Libya’s coast guard and Italy’s populist coalition last year closed the country’s ports to NGO rescue vessels.
The bombardment of the migrant centre in Tajoura prompted the UN to call last month for the closure of all detention facilities in Libya, as Amnesty International warned of the "inhuman" conditions within them.
Fighting has raged around Tripoli since April, when General Haftar, who is based in eastern Libya, launched an assault on the capital with his self-styled Libyan National Army.
More than 1,000 people have been killed in the fighting.
The clashes have made life even harder for asylum seekers who already endure arbitrary detention, lack of food, the spread of diseases and horrendous living conditions.
Women are routinely raped by their captors and men tortured to put pressure on their families to send more money.
Migrants have been bought and sold as modern-day slaves by militias and armed gangs.
“Fighting has raged around Libya’s capital Tripoli for over three months, displacing over 100,000 people and trapping refugees and migrants in detention centres,” said Medecins Sans Frontieres.
“Exposed to the conflict, those locked up and unable to flee are fearing for their lives as successive attacks have left around 60 people dead.
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“Humanitarian evacuations out of the country remain piecemeal and inadequate, leaving the potentially deadly sea crossing as one of the only possible escape routes.”
A few smugglers’ boats are still leaving the coast of Libya bound for Italy, but many do not make it.
They are either intercepted by the Libyan coast guard or capsize, as in the case of a boat that went down last month with the loss of an estimated 150 lives. It was the largest loss of life in the Mediterranean so far this year.
The EU on Friday called on both sides in the Libyan conflict to call a truce and to return to UN-brokered talks.
"The European Union and its member states are united in demanding that all Libyan parties commit to a permanent ceasefire," said Federica Mogherini, the EU foreign policy chief.
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Libya has been lawless since the 2011 revolt that toppled dictator Muammar Gaddafi.