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Report: African Refugees, Migrants Encounter Violence Along Sahara Migratory
Route

Lisa Schlein

   GENEVA - A new report says thousands of African refugees and migrants
   die or face abuse while traveling across the Sahara Desert toward Libya
   and the gateway to Europe. The report by the U.N. refugee agency and
   the Mixed Migration Center at the Danish Refugee Council describes the
   harrowing journeys taken by east and west African irregular migrants
   along the migratory route.

   Around 16,000 refugees and migrants surveyed over the last two years
   have described brutality and inhumanity suffered at the hands of
   smugglers, traffickers, militias and even government officials.

   The U.N. refugee agency special envoy for the central Mediterranean,
   Vincent Cochetel, said 47 percent of the victims have reported that the
   perpetrators of violence were law enforcement authorities.

   "Whereas in the past, we believed that it was mainly smugglers and
   traffickers -- yes, they are key perpetrators of violence -- but the
   primary perpetrators of violence are people who are supposed to
   protect," Cochetel said.

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