ICC prosecutor considers opening investigation into crimes against migrants in Libya

According to the International Organization for Migration, 20,000 migrants are held by criminal gangs in irregular detention centres in Libya and growing numbers of migrants are traded in what they call slave markets before being held for ransom, forced labour or sexual exploitation, added Reuters.

ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda told the United Nations Security Council that her office was collecting and analysing information “related to serious and widespread crimes allegedly committed against migrants attempting to transit through Libya.”

“I take this opportunity before the council to declare that my office is carefully examining the feasibility of opening an investigation into migrant-related crimes in Libya should the court’s jurisdictional requirements be met,” Bensouda said, Reuters indicated.

The United Nations Security Council asked the court in 2011 to investigate crimes committed since the start of an uprising the same year that led to the fall of leader Muammar Gaddafi. The oil-producing North African state slipped into turmoil and been riven by factional strife since then, according to Reuters.

The International Criminal Court, which opened in 2002, has international jurisdiction to prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in member states or if a situation is referred by the UN Security Council.