HRA Calls on Libya to Release Sudanese Nationals Held in Arbitrary Detention

Cape Town | May 2026

The Human Rights Association (HRA) today calls on the Libyan authorities to immediately release all Sudanese nationals held in arbitrary detention, to dismantle the trafficking networks and extortion operations exploiting Sudanese refugees within Libya's territory, and to cooperate fully with the United Nations and its mechanisms in the protection and voluntary repatriation of all Sudanese nationals who wish to return home or seek resettlement elsewhere.

Since the outbreak of armed conflict in Sudan in April 2023, more than 240,000 Sudanese refugees have arrived in Libya, the majority entering through the remote southeastern crossing at Alkufra, where an estimated 400 to 500 individuals arrived daily at peak influx. As of November 2025, UNHCR has registered more than 86,000 Sudanese refugees in Libya. Sudanese nationals now constitute approximately 43 per cent of all new arrivals in the country, with 31 per cent originating from Khartoum and 18 per cent from Darfur. Approximately 41 per cent are children. In May 2025, eleven Sudanese nationals died of dehydration near Alkufra after their vehicle broke down in the desert. Women and children were among the dead.

The February 2026 joint report of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) documents what it describes as a violent and normalised business model preying on migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees in Libya. Drawing on interviews with nearly 100 individuals from 16 countries, the report covers the period from January 2024 to December 2025 and documents arbitrary detention, forced labour, torture, sexual and gender-based violence, enforced disappearances, trafficking, and extortion operating as a systemic and entrenched pattern across Libyan territory.

Sudanese nationals are among those most severely affected. Four Sudanese girls aged between 12 and 17 reported attempted rape in Tripoli and Bir al-Ghanam. Sudanese women participating in UNHCR focus groups described experiences of harassment, workplace discrimination, and unpaid labour. Economic hardship is compelling Sudanese children into labour. Those intercepted at sea attempting to reach Europe are forcibly returned to Libya and face the same cycle of detention and abuse from which they fled. In June 2025, Libyan authorities announced the rescue of approximately 1,300 Sudanese migrants stranded near the tri-border region. Reports subsequently confirmed that many had previously been forcibly expelled; they were returned to Alkufra after spending days in desert conditions with limited access to food and water. Eastern Libyan authorities separately deported 700 Sudanese migrants in 2025.

UNHCR has confirmed that Sudanese nationals holding valid UNHCR registration documentation have been detained in Libyan facilities and, in documented cases, have had those documents deliberately destroyed by detaining authorities. Detention conditions are described across multiple UN assessments as severely overcrowded, with enforced disappearances, malnutrition, lack of medical care, extortion, and deaths from untreated illness. Libya's strict no-camp policy and rejection of group settlements has been enforced through raids on refugee makeshift settlements and expulsions from properties deemed to be illegally leased. The criminal networks operating trafficking hubs and extortion operations within Libyan territory have not been prosecuted.

The HRA notes that Libya has, in its engagement with UNHCR registration systems in the east of the country, demonstrated a capacity to organise structured responses to the Sudanese refugee influx when it chooses to do so. Libyan authorities in the east established a registration and documentation system for Sudanese arrivals in Alkufra. The obligation to apply equivalent capacity to the protection rather than the exploitation of Sudanese nationals is not conditional on political will. It is a matter of law. The OHCHR and UNSMIL have called explicitly on Libyan authorities to immediately release all those arbitrarily detained, end violent interception practices, and establish effective accountability mechanisms for violations committed against migrants and refugees.

HRA Chairman Saad Kassis-Mohamed stated: “Sudanese refugees arrive in Libya having survived a war that has displaced millions. Their UNHCR registration cards are deliberately destroyed by the guards who detain them. Sudanese girls aged twelve have been subjected to attempted rape in Tripoli. The OHCHR and UNSMIL have described what is happening as a violent and normalised business model. The HRA calls on the Libyan authorities to dismantle that business model, to release every Sudanese national held against their will, and to cooperate fully with the United Nations in ensuring those who cannot return home are able to reach safety.”

“Sudanese refugees arrive in Libya having survived a war that has displaced millions. Their UNHCR registration cards are deliberately destroyed by the guards who detain them. Sudanese girls aged twelve have been subjected to attempted rape in Tripoli. The OHCHR and UNSMIL have described what is happening as a violent and normalised business model. The HRA calls on the Libyan authorities to dismantle that business model, to release every Sudanese national held against their will, and to cooperate fully with the United Nations in ensuring those who cannot return home are able to reach safety.” states Saad Kassis-Mohamed, Chairman, Human Rights Association.

The HRA calls specifically on the Libyan authorities to release immediately all Sudanese nationals held in arbitrary detention, including those in possession of valid UNHCR registration documentation; to end the forced expulsion of Sudanese refugees and the practice of forcibly returning those intercepted at sea to detention within Libya; to dismantle trafficking hubs and extortion networks operating within Libyan territory and to prosecute those responsible; to cooperate fully with UNHCR, OHCHR, and UNSMIL in the protection, registration, and voluntary repatriation or resettlement of Sudanese nationals; to ensure that Sudanese women, girls, and unaccompanied children in detention are protected from sexual violence; and to establish effective and transparent accountability mechanisms for human rights violations committed against Sudanese and other migrants in Libyan detention facilities.

The Human Rights Association is an initiative of the WeCare Foundation, Cape Town, an international human rights organisation working to protect the rights of individuals facing unjust detention, denial of medical care, and due process violations, and engaging directly with United Nations mechanisms to advocate on their behalf.