At least 65 bodies have been found in a mass grave in southwest Libya, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on March 22. Who the dead were, and how they died, is not yet known.
The Geneva-based UN agency said it was “profoundly shocked and alarmed.” Its working belief is that the victims were migrants who perished while smugglers moved them through the desert, heading for the Mediterranean coast. Their nationalities have not been established.
An IOM spokesperson put the loss in human terms. “Each report of a missing migrant or a loss of life represents a grieving family searching for answers about their loved ones or acknowledging the tragedy of the loss,” the spokesperson said. “The cost of inadequate action is evident in the increasing human deaths and the disturbing conditions migrants find themselves in.”
Libyan authorities are investigating. The IOM asked them, working with UN partner agencies, to see that the remains are recovered with dignity, identified and transferred, and that families are told and given help.
A route already marked by loss
Libya is one of the main departure points for people trying to reach Europe across the Mediterranean. The Missing Migrants Project had recorded at least 3,129 deaths and disappearances along that route in 2023, before this discovery, and calls it the deadliest migratory route in the world.
Earlier in March the IOM said 2023 was the deadliest year for migrants since records began a decade ago. At least 8,565 people died on migration routes worldwide, a figure 20% above the year before.
The agency argued that the grave points to a gap in policy. Without regular pathways for legal migration, it said, tragedies like this one will keep happening along the route. It called for a coordinated response to migrant smuggling and human trafficking, and asked every government and authority along the route to deepen regional cooperation so that migrants are protected whatever their status and wherever they are on the journey.
In Libya, the IOM supplies humanitarian aid to vulnerable people and trains the actors who carry out search and rescue in the desert, covering human rights obligations and protection-oriented border management.
Sources
- Discovery of Mass Grave with 65 Migrant Bodies in Libya – Libya
- At least 65 migrant bodies found in Libya mass grave, says UN
Sources
- Discovery of Mass Grave with 65 Migrant Bodies in Libya… | ReliefWeb
- At least 65 migrant bodies found in Libya mass grave, says UN
