Fortress Europe: what happens to the refugees sent back to Libya?
The EU’s efforts to stem the flow migration from Africa across the Mediterranean has meant assisting the Libyan coastguard to intercept boats. But what happens when asylum seekers are returned to war-torn Libya? Sally Hayden has spent months investigating conditions in the detention camps. Plus: Jonathan Watts on the UN’s alarming report on the possible extinction of more than a million plant and animal species
In response to the thousands of people attempting to cross the Mediterranean to claim asylum in Europe, the EU has been helping train the Libyan coastguard to patrol its waters. But what happens to those captured and returned to the war-torn country’s detention camps?
Journalist Sally Hayden has been following the story for months after being contacted by desperate detainees in Libya’s squalid immigration detention centres. She tells Anushka Asthana how the thousands trapped in the camps are in danger of being caught up in the increasingly dangerous conditions within Libya as the country’s civil war intensifies.
Also today: environment editor Jonathan Watts on the alarming report from the UN that claims more than a million plant and animal species are on the verge of extinction, with dire consequences for humanity.
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