Libya: UN condemns killing of asylum-seeker in Tripoli

A 15-year-old asylum-seeker was killed during an attack on a Tripoli shelter earlier this week. Now, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Libya has asked local authorities to investigate the killing and prosecute the perpetrators.

“I am shocked and deeply saddened to learn of the death of a young Eritrean asylum-seeker Tuesday at a shelter in Tripoli,” the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Libya, Yacoub El Hillo, said in a statement released by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Wednesday.

“Like many Libyans, migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers continue to pay the price of the protracted crisis in the country. I urge the Libyan authorities to fully investigate this incident and bring the perpetrators to justice,” said El Hillo.

In the early hours of Tuesday morning, a group of six men reportedly entered the shelter in the Gergaresh area and began shooting, killing the 15-year-old asylum-seeker and wounding two others.

Around 5,600 Eritrean asylum-seekers and refugees have been registered by UN refugee agency UNHCR and live in urban areas in Libya, according to OCHA.

UN agencies and aid groups have repeatedly pointed out that Libya is not safe for migrants and refugees — many of them have experienced arbitrary detention, blackmail, abuse, trafficking and labour exploitation.

In early October, a young Nigerian man was burned alive in Tripoli. According to UN and Libyan government officials, the men accused of setting him on fire have been arrested. An investigation into the incident is still under way.

In January, two other Eritrean asylum-seekers were shot dead at their accommodation in Tripoli, the OCHA press release said. In May, 30 migrants were reportedly shot dead and 11 others were injured at a smuggling warehouse in the city of Mizdah.

© InfoMigrants

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