Archive · 25 Aug 2026
Migrants Face Slavery on New Libya Route to UK
Some people trying to reach the UK or Germany are being sent through Libya.
Criminal groups and militia members are accused of trapping migrants in secret buildings.
Survivors said people were beaten, starved and given very little water.
Some children were reportedly held there too.
The captors sometimes demanded money from migrants’ families.
One survivor said people were threatened with death and organ removal.
Migrants often use this route because other paths into Europe have become harder to cross.
Many people have also died or disappeared while crossing the central Mediterranean.
The United Nations has criticized European support for Libyan efforts to stop migration because of alleged abuses.
Migrants seeking Britain or Germany are increasingly being routed through Libya after other European routes faced tighter controls.
Survivors told The Times they were abducted, held in unofficial compounds and subjected to starvation, beatings, threats and forced confinement.
At least 500 Kurdish migrants reportedly became enslaved along the route during the past 12 months, according to local groups and survivors.
Captors allegedly demanded ransoms from families, and one survivor said he knew of a migrant whose organ had been removed and sold.
The International Organization for Migration recorded 800 people dead or missing on the central Mediterranean route during the first six months of this year.
- Who
- Migrants from countries including Ghana and Iraq, Kurdish migrants, Libyan militias and criminal smuggling networks.
- What
- Migrants heading toward the UK or Germany were allegedly abducted, enslaved and held in unofficial Libyan compounds along a trafficking route.
- When
- The reported trafficking occurred during the past 12 months; 800 people died or went missing on the route in the first six months of this year.
- Where
- The route runs through Libya and across the central Mediterranean, with survivors later reaching Lampedusa and mainland Italy.
- Why
- Smugglers are using the route because tighter controls in Turkey, Greece, the Balkans and other European border states have disrupted established land routes.
Migration Enforcement
Human Rights Critics
Libya-based migration controls
Migration Enforcement
European border states are tightening controls and disrupting established routes, while Libyan authorities and militias are involved in efforts to stop or move migrants.
Human Rights Critics
A United Nations fact-finding mission said the European Union aided and abetted human rights abuses by funding Libyan authorities’ immigration crackdown.
Use of the Libya route
Migration Enforcement
Smuggling networks are directing migrants through Libya as other routes become harder to use, combining legal flights with irregular Mediterranean crossings.
Human Rights Critics
Migrants and survivors say the route exposes people to abduction, slavery, violence, starvation and ransom demands, and that people would avoid it if they knew the risks.
- Reported Kurdish victims
- At least 500 Kurdish migrants reportedly ended up in slavery on the route during the past 12 months.
- Unofficial Libyan facilities
- The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime estimates that Libya has at least 200 unofficial migrant holding facilities.
- Central Mediterranean deaths
- The International Organization for Migration recorded 800 people dead or missing during the first six months of this year.
- Reported abuses
- Survivors described starvation, beatings, inadequate water, shootings, ransom demands and denial of medical care.
- Route method
- The reported flow combines legal flights with irregular crossings, a practice described as hybrid smuggling.
- Destination claims
- Migrants said they paid to reach the United Kingdom or Germany.