Humanitarian situation during the Libyan civil war (2011)

By the end of February 2011, medical supplies, fuel and food were dangerously low in Libya.^[1] On 25 February, the International Committee of the Red Cross launched an emergency appeal for US$6,400,000 to meet the emergency needs of people affected by the violent unrest in Libya.^[2] On 2 March, the ICRC's director general reminded everyone taking part in the violence that health workers must be allowed to do their jobs safely.^[3]

At the end of February, Al Jazeera reported that African migrant workers were being attacked, injured and perhaps killed by anti-government mobs according to witnesses. "We were being attacked by local people who said that we were mercenaries killing people. Let me say that they did not want to see black people," Julius Kiluu, a sixty-year-old building supervisor, told Reuters. "Our camp was burnt down, and we were assisted by the Kenyan embassy and our company to get to the airport," he said.^[4]

On 2 March, the British Royal Navy destroyer HMS York arrived in Benghazi carrying medical supplies and other humanitarian aid donated by the Swedish government. The medical supplies, a donation to the Benghazi Medical Centre, were supposed to have been flown direct to Benghazi airport but when the airport was closed down, they were diverted to Malta. They were transferred from the airport to the frigate at short notice by the Maltese Armed Forces.^[5][6] On 8 March, a convoy of trucks from the UN World Food Programme (WFP) had entered Libya and was due to arrive in the eastern port city of Benghazi on the same day, the WFP said in a statement. A convoy carrying seventy metric tonnes of high-energy date bars crossed the Egyptian border overnight on its way to the eastern port. On 7 March, U.N. aid coordinator Valerie Amos stated that fighting across Libya meant that more than a million people fleeing or inside the country needed humanitarian aid.^[7][8] The Islamic Relief and the WFP also coordinated a shipment of humanitarian supplies to Misrata.^[9]

Turkey sent the ferry Ankara, which had been converted into a hospital ship, to assist wounded victims of the fighting in Misrata. The ferry docked at the Misrata port on 2 April, and was escorted by twelve Turkish Air Force F-16 jets taking off from Bandırma and Dalaman, four tanker aircraft taking off from İncirlik, and the Turkish Navy frigate TCG Yıldırım. After 230 wounded people and 60 attendants were taken on board, the ferry left Misrata for Benghazi.^[10][11] On 4 April, the ferry sailed from Benghazi to Turkey with additional 190 people, including 90 injured.^[12] The IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation sent a cargo ship carrying nine containers with 141 tons of humanitarian aid including medication, food packages, infant formula, milk powder, hygiene kits and clothing.^[9][13] The ship set sail from Turkey and dropped anchor in Malta.

By 11 April, hundreds of foreign labourers from countries including Bangladesh, Egypt, Ghana, Niger and Sudan – who were previously attracted by jobs in a once-prosperous Misrata – had not been evacuated. A labourers' spokesperson said there were 650 trapped workers from Ghana, 750 from Chad and 2,000 from Niger. Another spokesperson also gave a Daily Telegraph reporter handwritten sheets of names that he said represented hundreds of stranded Sudanese.^[14]

For over fifty days, Misrata was shelled by artillery and hit by tanks and snipers, and for over twenty days had its water intentionally shut off by Gaddafi forces. Sewage was intentionally re-routed into water wells by Gaddafi forces. As supplies ran short, hundreds of thousands were at risk of death.^[15][16]

Human rights groups have contributed extensive evidence documenting human rights abuses during the Libyan conflict. In August 2011, Physicians for Human Rights published a report on Misrata documenting severe violations of human rights and evidence of war crimes including torture, summary execution, rape as a weapon of war, forced disappearances, using civilians as human shields, indiscriminate attacks on civilians, and violations of medical neutrality.^[17] In December 2011, PHR released another report documenting evidence of a massacre at a warehouse in Tripoli in which soldiers of Khamis Qaddafi's 32nd Brigade unlawfully detained, raped, tortured and executed at least 53 detainees.^[18] PHR's investigation and resulting report provided the first comprehensive account of the 32nd Brigade massacre, and provided forensic evidence needed to secure accountability for crimes according to international legal standards.

A humanitarian ship docked in harbour of Misrata late on 14 April to begin the evacuation of nearly 8,300 stranded migrants living around the port in temporary accommodation in tents and shelters made from tarpaulins. The Red Cross also released a statement that it expected one of its medical supply shipments to arrive at Misrata in the near future.^[19]

On 11 May, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski paid a visit to Benghazi, during which the Polish government provided its medical-aid transport for those who sustained injuries during the clashes in Misrata and other Libyan cities.^[20]