Central Mediterranean Route
The CMR is the final stage of multiple migration routes emerging from West Africa, North Africa, South Asia and the Horn of Africa. All these migration routes define Libya as the central node for the CMR. The CMR has historically been one of the busiest and most dangerous routes for migrant smuggling activities into Europe, and includes the corridors targeted by the JT, from the Horn of Africa through Libya to Europe and further. The route remains infamous for fatal incidents and the extreme violence to which migrants are systematically exposed.
The JT is particularly interested in the most violent modus operandi (MO) on this route where migrants are often kept in (often illegal) detention centres in Libya for extended periods of time. In the detention centres, living conditions are extremely poor and migrants are subjected to serious ill-treatment, including starvation, torture, sexual and gender-based crimes, slavery, etc. Migrants are often forced to call relatives asking them to pay the requested smuggling fees, which in some cases takes many months. Migrants unable to pay the requested amounts may be subjected to forced labour or they face the threat of losing their lives or suffering serious harm from criminals. One of the practices used by smugglers operating from or in the detention camps has been to force migrants to execute tasks for them and in service of the smuggling operations they coordinate, in exchange for the trip to Europe and the respective smuggling fees.
At times, smugglers trade or sell migrants amongst each other, in which case migrants are forced to pay additional fees. Upon payment, migrants are transported to the coast where they are boarded on (often unseaworthy) vessels to make the crossing to Italy. At sea, the boats may be intercepted and the migrants returned to (informal or formal) detention centres from where the whole process starts again. Others perish at sea. Again others don’t even make it to the sea since they die during the journeys over land or while in detention camps. Those who make it to Europe are often seriously traumatised as a result of their experiences on the CMR.