Of Anger and disappointment : An interview about the renewal of the Memorandum of Understanding Italy-Libya

CR :  Refugees in Libya has been working tirelessly to prevent the renewal of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Can you tell us about the campaign ? How do people react in Italy and elsewhere when you do this awareness-raising and information work?

Salahdine Juma : We as Refugees in Libya, we are a movement of Refugees and migrants who survived detention, torture and exploitation in Libya. Our campaign against the Italy-Libya Memorandum of Understanding stems from our lived experience. We know that this deal funds a system of abuses and kills our brothers and sisters. So to stop its renewal we have organized testimonies, press conferences and public campaigns exposing what the MoU really means. Together with more than sixty europeans and italian organizations, we launched the Stop MoU campaign week of action and a large demonstration in Rome in October 2025. We also spoke directly in the Italian parliament demanding an end to the cooperation with the Libyan coast guards and the creation of safe legal routes. Our awareness work has reached many people in Italy : civil society groups, students and community has joined us as well in solidarity. So the government still defends the Memorandum of Understanding in the name of border control. Internationally, our voices are being amplified by organizations like Amnesty, ECCHR (European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights) and medias such as the Guardian and U-Report. For us, this is not just activism, it's survival. Every renewal of this Memorandum of Understanding means more lives are lost. We continue to say : we are not victim, we are witnesses and we demand freedom, dignity and justice for all.

How do you feel after the renewal ? What are the next steps ?

We as members of Refugees in Libya, we strongly reject the renewal of the Memorandum of Undersanding. For us, this deal means more suffering, more people captured at sea returned to war zone and locked in detention centers where torture, abuse and exploitation continue all day and all night long. We feel anger and deep disappointment. Once again decisions about our lives were made without listening to us, the people mostly affected. We demand the cancellation of the Italy-Libya Memorandum of Understanding. We demand safe evacuations and legal pathways for refugees who are trapped in Libya and we also demand justice and accountability for the crimes committed under this system. So our message is very simple. We just say : stop founding abuse and protect people, not borders. We will continue to speak out and organize campaigns against this MoU until every refugee in Libya can live in safety and dignity.

Do you think the increasing media coverage of the genocidal situation in Sudan could have an impact on the media coverage of Libya, since many Sudanese find themselves in horrific situations there after having already experienced traumatizing events in Sudan?

Personally, when I see the world finally talking about Sudan, I feel two things : I feel relief and feel pain. I feel relief because our sufferings are no longer invisible and pain because so many of us had to die before anyone paid attention. I escaped the war hoping for safety but in Libya I found another nightmare ; the same things I faced in Libya for many years where our Sudanese brothers and other nationalities are still treated as if they are not humans. They are being beaten, they are being mugged in the detention centers. They are being sold. Women are abused and men disappear. Even children are detained ; there are no bombs but the fear never ended. People call us migrants but most of us are not chasing Europe ; we are just trying to survive after losing everything. I hope that the world who watches Sudan today also sees what is happening to the refugees and migrants in Libya. The genocide doesn't stop at the Sudanese border. It follows the refugees and migrants in the desert, the prison and the streets of Libya. What we ask is that, when they tell Sudanese history, they should never forget the story of those who died at the borders, in prisons and at sea as well.

Interview conducted on November 3, 2025
Many thanks to Clara Marnette for the pictures ©