Tracing the ‘continuum of violence’ between Nigeria and Libya

By Leah de Haan, Iro Aghedo and Tim Eaton, Chatham House, 24 July 2024

Despite being thousands of miles apart, Libya and Edo State in southern Nigeria are connected by a centuries-old route for trade and the movement of people. Since the outbreak of conflict in Libya in 2011, it has become a major route for human-smuggling and -trafficking.

This research paper traces the movement of people along that route and reveals a transnational ‘continuum of violence’, connecting structural violence in Edo State to direct violence against Nigerians and other people moving in Libya’s conflict economy. By identifying causal loops and feedback mechanisms at work, the paper shows how the levels of violence escalate along the route and lead to people becoming part of an ‘abuse-for-profit’ system in Libya.

The paper contends that by adopting a broader ‘conflict and violence’ approach in place of a narrower one focused on border and migration management, policymakers can disrupt the continuum and reduce the violence and social pressures that fuel it.

Summary

- Despite being thousands of miles apart, Libya and Edo State in southern Nigeria are connected by a centuries-old route for trade and the movement of people. Since the outbreak of conflict in Libya in 2011, it has become a major route for human-smuggling and -trafficking. This research paper traces the movement of people along the route, demonstrating how the abuse against people moving has fuelled the conflict economy in Libya.

- Movement from Edo State is in significant part driven by an overwhelming presence in the state of structural violence,1 which is particularly harmful to people who are economically excluded, and to women and girls.

- The violence people experience escalates along the route to Libya and culminates with people becoming part of an ‘abuse-for-profit’2 system. For women and girls in particular, this interlinked violence may include structural exclusion in Edo State, sexual abuse at the hands of border personnel in Niger, and captivity and forced labour in Libyan detention centres.

- To study this dynamic transnational process, the paper applies a feminist approach of a ‘continuum of violence’. This approach connects different types of violence to show how conflict impacts, and is impacted by, less visible forms of violence, such as societal inequities or violence related to repressive political systems.

- The paper uses a qualitative systems analysis to illustrate how the political, economic and security processes that underpin the movement of people produce a ‘continuum’ that connects Edo State to the Libyan conflict.

- By identifying the causal loops and feedback mechanisms at work in this continuum, policymakers can identify strategic points at which to target interventions. Such an analysis creates new opportunities for international efforts aimed at conflict response. Reducing the level of structural violence in Edo State and the pressures behind human-smuggling and -trafficking could eventually contribute to addressing conflict in Libya.

- To operationalize a policy approach that seeks to disrupt the continuum of violence manifested in the movement of people, four broad policy implications are presented in the concluding chapter:

- First, the use of a wider ‘conflict and violence’ lens – instead of a narrower one focused on ‘border and migration management’ – will help conceptualize the question of the movement of people to Libya in a way that allows for productive responses.

- Second, by expanding the stakeholders, sectors, and violences and deaths considered as part of a conflict, a feminist approach can unlock an expanded policy toolbox to mitigate the violences produced by the transnational movement of people.

- Third, and in keeping with the above, the use of language that is inclusive, and that acknowledges the depth and breadth of exclusion and abuses suffered, is a necessary step towards developing effective solutions. Violence, exploitation and coercion were present in all of the journeys discussed by research participants. In the case of the movement of people to Libya, the violence people experience directly fuels the conflict. More attention to these realities is needed to address how they entrench the conflict economy.

- Finally, policymakers should consider the expansion of safe and legal routes for migration from Edo State as a way of preventing people from becoming a resource to be exploited in the Libyan conflict economy.

For the full paper, visit: https://www.chathamhouse.org/2024/07/tracing-continum-violence-between-nigeria-and-libya/summary