Frouws and Horwood 2017). Apart from some anecdotal evidence in qualitative studies, the geographical aspects of the network of irregular migrants and asylum seekers have been neglected in the literature. To our knowledge, while some recent reports have incorporated the spatial factor into the description of their findings (Barthel and Neumayer 2015; Cummings et al. 2015; Echevarria and Gardeazabal 2016), only three studies (Rotte, Vogler, and Zimmerman 1997; Hatton 2004; Melander and Öberg 2007) have explicitly considered this aspect in their analysis.

# **3. Migration in Libya**

Libya has experienced a prolonged period of conflict and instability since the fall of the Gaddafi regime in 2011 and the beginning of the First Libyan Civil War. The uncertain political situation, characterized by lack of a government able to control the territory, has contributed to the significant number of displaced Libyans and made Libya one of the most important hubs for human smuggling and refugee routes since 2011 (Cummings et al. 2015). Smuggling has become very remunerative in the country, it is increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few well-organized criminal networks, and is dominated by armed groups that use this activity to raise money to buy weapons and consolidate their hold on their controlled areas (Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime 2017).

Libya is a hub of legal and illegal migration transit (IOM 2017b). Migrants directed to Europe are going through Libya with the objective of reaching the northern coast of the country and from there the other side of the Mediterranean Sea<sup>3</sup> (IOM 2017b; Mixed Migration Hub 2015; IOM 2015; UNHCR 2017b). Libya is the destination of two of the most important asylum-seeker routes to Europe (figure 1). Between 2011 and 2016, approximately 630,000 people used the “Central Mediterranean route”, the main route of arrival via irregular migration to Europe, to reach Italy (IOM 2016b; European Commission, 2017a). In 2016, more than 181,000 people were detected on the Central Mediterranean route, almost 90% of whom departed from Libya (European Commission 2017b).

Although Libya is primarily a migrant transit area, it is also a destination country for international migrants, including refugees. In fact, a large number of them are the economic migrants who migrate to Libya planning to stay in the country. Before the First Libyan Civil War, migrants accounted for more than 10% of the total Libyan population (World Bank 2015).<sup>4</sup> Since 2011, a significant number

> 3 IOM (2017b) reports serious human rights violations along these smuggling routes. Migrants often experience significant violence, including extortion, exploitation, physical and sexual violence, kidnapping, and robbery, with many losing their lives as a result of being transported under inhumane conditions at sea, in the desert, and in other transit locations (Frouws and Horwood 2017). Smuggling into and outside Libya has become a very remunerative activity (UNHCR, 2018). Migrants smuggling is increasingly concentrated in the hands of criminal networks, dominated by armed groups that use this activity to raise money for buying weapons and consolidate their hold on their controlled areas (Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, 2017).

> 4 Historically, the Libyan economy has relied heavily on foreign workers. Prior to the 2011 conflict, nearly 50% of Libya’s labor force were foreigners, between 1.2 million and 1.5 million workers. During the conflict, an estimated 1 million foreign

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