LONDON: Women and children making the dangerous journey to Europe to flee poverty and conflicts in Africa are being beaten, raped and starved in “living hellholes” in Libya, the United Nations children’s agency (UNICEF) said on Tuesday. “For the thousands of migrant women and children incarcerated, (the centres) were living hellholes where people were held for months,” the UNICEF report said on Tuesday. In interviews with more than 100 women and children, nearly half said they had been raped or abused several times during their journey, it said. Most of the children said they were beaten by adults along the way, with girls suffering more abuse than boys. Over 4,500 people drowned, and at least 700 were children, UNICEF said.

Source: Libya Today February 28, 2017 10:07 UTC