by UNSMIL indicate that several dead bodies of migrants are found every week in the area. Bani
Walid is on one of the smuggling routes from the south to the northern coastal areas.
6.2.
Torture and other ill-treatment
UNSMIL has documented numerous accounts of migrants detained in DCIM centres who were
subjected to torture and other ill-treatment by DICM guards, compounding the impact of the
inhuman conditions described in this report. One migrant interviewed in Italy described being
held in a “connection house” and detained in a DCIM detention centre in al-Gwia’. He told
UNSMIL staff: “Sometimes we are beaten for no reason, we don’t know whether it’s the effect
of alcohol, drugs or they just do it for fun…”
Many of the migrants interviewed by UNSMIL in Italy bore signs of serious injuries. They
explained that the injuries had been caused by guards in DCIM detention centres, employers, and
those in charge of “connection houses,” beating them with items such as sticks, rocks, and metal
bars. A child migrant interviewed in Sicily told UNSMIL staff that “they beat us with what falls
to their hands… it can be a rock, a stick, a brick…”
A number of migrants interviewed by UNSMIL staff had sustained gunshot or knife injuries;
several migrants had visible wounds and head injuries. Some complained that they had lost their
eyesight and had hearing problems because of beatings to their heads and ears.
Half of the migrants interviewed who had been detained in official and unofficial places of
detention in Libya said that they had witnessed the deaths of other migrants. They attributed the
fatalities to the conditions of detention, including severe malnutrition, illness, beatings, or other
violence.
Migrants interviewed by UNSMIL staff reported that extortion in DCIM detention centres is
often accompanied by violence. Guards would provide a mobile phone and force detainees to
call their relatives and ask them to transfer a sum of money, usually to secure their release.
During the call the migrants may be tortured to compel their families to transfer the money.
Interviewees recounted that several migrants were shot dead or died as a result of torture when
they or their families could not pay the amount requested.
A 16-year-old boy from Senegal, who arrived in Italy on 25 May 2016, said that he had been
detained for four months in the Garabulli DCIM detention center in greater Tripoli with other
migrants, including adults and children. Guards threatened to kill him, beat him, and repeatedly
demanded money. He described how DCIM guards cooperated with a group of four Nigerians
and three Libyans in extortion and forced labour. He said that the detention center was
overcrowded and lacked adequate food and health services.
A 17-year-old boy from Guinea described how he was detained at the Al-Fallah DCIM centre in
Tripoli in November 2015. In the following two months he said that he was handed over by
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