MSF hands out life jackets to a wooden boats with migrants and refugees in the Mediterranean Ocean in the Libyan search and rescue zone.
The escape route across the Mediterranean from Libya is considered the deadliest in the world. In 2021, more than 110,000 refugees and migrants crossed the dangerous route in bad inflatable boats and wooden boats. Over 1,500 are dead and missing. They dream of coming to Europe, away from abuse and captivity in Libya. Many of them try to cross a number of times, but in the attempts they are stopped by the Libyan coast guard and sent back to Libya. Many end up in captivity in Libya, where they are subjected to torture, forced labor and abuse, while others are kept in overcrowded reception centres. The UN has stated that there are reasonable grounds to believe that war crimes have been committed in Libya, while violence perpetrated in prisons and against migrants there may amount to crimes against humanity. In the rescue zones in the Mediterranean, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) operates with the Norwegian ship “Geo Barents”. They try to save as many as possible and bring them to a port of safety in Italy, where the refugees and migrants are given the opportunity to seek asylum.
