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The Human Rights Association (HRA) has urged Libyan authorities to immediately release all Sierra Leonean nationals held in arbitrary detention in Libya, dismantle trafficking networks targeting them, and cooperate fully with the United Nations on voluntary repatriation.
In a statement issued Tuesday, the HRA cited documented accounts of Sierra Leonean migrants who suffered abduction, torture, sexual violence, forced labour, and sale between traffickers after entering Libya via overland routes through Guinea or Mali.
One woman, identified as Aminata, left Freetown in 2025 after her husband died, hoping to reach Europe to support her three children. She was intercepted by an armed group days after crossing into southern Libya, held in a facility with dozens of other West African women, subjected to repeated sexual violence, and sold to a second group. Her family could not pay the ransom demanded. She eventually returned to Sierra Leone without formal recognition of her ordeal or psychological support.
Another survivor, Foday, a young man from Kenema, was intercepted near the Niger border and held for three months in a facility with more than 300 other migrants. He was beaten daily, given one meal per day, and sold to a trafficker who demanded payment from his family. Released after his family borrowed extensively, he returned to Sierra Leone carrying unpayable debt and lasting physical and psychological harm.
The HRA said Libyan military and security personnel have on documented occasions participated directly in selling detained migrants to civilian trafficking networks.
A February 2026 UN report described Libya’s migrant treatment as “a violent and normalised business model,” the HRA noted, adding that Sierra Leoneans are among the nationalities most consistently subjected to the worst abuses.
HRA Chairman Saad Kassis-Mohamed said: “These are Sierra Leonean people who sought a better life and encountered a system in which Libyan military personnel participate directly in selling them to traffickers.”
The HRA called on Libyan authorities to release all detained Sierra Leoneans, dismantle trafficking and extortion networks, prosecute state-affiliated personnel involved in migrant sales, and cooperate with UN mechanisms to ensure safe, supported return home for those who wish to leave.
The Human Rights Association is an initiative of the WeCare Foundation based in Cape Town.
