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From the Streets of Tripoli to the ICC: Five Years of Struggle and Solidarity with Refugees in Libya
Connecting Migrant-led Movements that Challenge Europe's Mobility Regime – panel discussion, workshops, exhibition, food
3. October 2026
15.30-20.30
15.30-20.30
Save the Date
For free
For 16 year-olds and older
in English
On October 1, 2021, people on the move in Libya came together in Tripoli for what became the 100 Days Protest outside UNHCR. Out of this mobilization grew Refugees in Libya (RiL), a movement founded and led by survivors of detention and border violence that mobilizes, documents abuses, challenges impunity, and fights for freedom of movement.
On its 5th anniversary, RiL, alongside the Alliance with Refugees in Libya and ECCHR, invites migrant and diaspora communities, activists, and others interested in migration, social justice, border politics, and accountability to an afternoon of reflection on five years of struggle, exchange across movements, and collective discussion on how to build on this new opening for justice.
That opening is the upcoming trial of Khaled El Hishri, a former official at Tripoli's Mitiga Prison, on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes. The experiences of people on the move detained at Mitiga expose a wider system of migrant containment, exploitation, and abuse across Libya and the Mediterranean, deeply entwined with European migration-control policies. This moment offers an opportunity to seek justice for crimes at Mitiga while bringing the wider EU-backed migrant detention industry into public and legal scrutiny. It can also build pressure for accountability of EU and member state officials and for fundamental changes in European border policy.
Members of RiL will open with reflections on five years of organizing and resistance. A panel with David Yambio (RiL), Allison West (ECCHR), and one more speaker moderated by Viola Castellano (Alliance with Refugees in Libya) will explore the El Hishri case, survivor participation, and the ways the case and the broader movement can challenge Europe’s violent border regime.
After a food break, representatives of Berlin-based groups and movements will introduce their work before participants move into breakout conversations on topics such as survivor participation and solidarity; connecting migrant-led struggles and movements; legal advocacy and mobilization in an anti-migrant climate.
In the atrium, a multimedia exhibition will trace RiL’s history through photographs, testimonies, and archival materials.
Photograph by: Clara Marnette
