According to IOM Libya, 1,067 migrants were intercepted by the Libyan authorities and brought back to Libya between January 1 and January 7. Conditions for migrants in Libya are consistently being described as "undignified" and "inhumane."
Some of the 248 migrants who landed in the southern Campania port city of Salerno on December 11 had been travelling for more than a year. Many of them were abandoned and lost loved ones. Among them was a 10-year-old unaccompanied minor and a young mother who fled Cameroon, then saw her daughter get sick and die in just a few days during the journey.
Novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah has criticized the way that Europe treats migrants and refugees. He argued that people immigrating to Europe have a lot to contribute to their host societies and should receive a warm welcome.
Moroccan police have arrested 25 African migrants near the border with the Spanish enclave Melilla, where at least 23 people died in June while attempting to cross the border. Meanwhile, the Spanish ombusdman has accused Spain of violating migrant rights during the same incident.
An NGO has reported an increase in violence and abuse against migrants trying to enter Hungary from Serbia. A young Moroccan man said that he had been beaten by border police who shaved a cross into his hair prior to sending him back to Serbia.
A video showing a 15-year-old refugee boy in Libya being abused by kidnappers has caused widespread alarm. It shows how abuse, torture, sexual violence and killings of migrants are rampant in the North African nation.
Twenty-seven persons who suffered abuse and torture in Libyan detention centers have found shelter in Italy and will have access to specialized medical assistance. The group was evacuated at the end of June with a humanitarian flight from Libya to Italy; approximately half are now hosted in apartments offered by Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
Tripoli's SSA security force are reportedly torturing, beating and humiliating migrants in detention facilities after intercepting their boats in the Mediterranean. The SSA indirectly draws money from funds provided by the EU as part of the bloc's efforts to stem the flow of migrants to European shores, the report added.
The UN Migration Agency (IOM) has shared its latest numbers on returns to Libya. Almost 300 migrants were returned to Libya in one week, taking the total number of returns thus far this year to more than 10,200.
UN investigators revealed once more that migrants and refugees detained in Libya face serious abuse, with women especially facing sexual violence. The report highlights how females are forced to submit to rape in exchange for food. It also mentions the discovery of "dozens" of mass graves with migrants' bodies.
Amnesty International has recorded accounts from asylum seekers "pushed" into Lithuania after being lured to Belarus under false pretenses. Some of the migrants were tortured and abused, the report said.
Authorities in Laayoune, Morocco have been subjecting sub-Saharan migrants to constant harassment, an Ivorian in the city has told InfoMigrants. He said scores of migrants are being arrested and detained every day and "danger is everywhere."