UN mission raises alarm over torture footage from Libyan detention facility

The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) has expressed deep concern over social media footage showing prisoners being tortured and abused at the Gernada detention facility in eastern Libya, Reuters reports.

"While UNSMIL continues to verify the circumstances surrounding the footage, it strongly condemns these acts as serious violations of international human rights law," the mission stated.

Established in 2011 following Libya’s civil war and the assassination of leader Muammar Gaddafi, UNSMIL operates out of Tripoli with a mandate that includes monitoring and reporting on human rights abuses. Its leadership includes dignitaries from various nations.

UNSMIL noted that the footage aligns with previously documented cases of abuse in detention facilities across Libya.

For years, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières says it has documented cases of abuse and torture at Libyan detention centers.

“Refugees and migrants are detained indefinitely, without any safeguards, and are subjected to abuses, violence, exploitation, and forced disappearances,” it said in 2019.

UNSMIL has called for an urgent investigation into the matter and is reportedly working with the General Command of the Libyan National Army to secure unrestricted access for its human rights officers and independent monitors to the Gernada facility and other detention centers under Libyan control.