The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Friday that 189 refugees had been evacuated from Libya to Rwanda.

The European Union is funding the Libyan coast guard to keep migrants out of Europe and detain them in a failed state—and that leaves them at the mercy of militias and human traffickers.

Libya’s coast guard has intercepted 31 Europe-bound illegal migrants off the country’s Mediterranean coast.

More than 1,000 migrants and refugees have died in the Mediterranean Sea this year, the sixth year in a row that this “bleak milestone” has been reached, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

The Libyan coastguards on Sunday denied reports about more than 50 illegal immigrants drowning off the country’s coast.

Since April, about 19 families, mostly Sudanese from Darfur, have been taking refuge in an improvised camp.

A boat with more than 50 people on board has capsized off the Libyan coast, the United Nations said on Saturday, the latest accident involving migrants trying to reach Europe.

Many suffered human rights abuses, including beatings, extortion and rape during their time held in detention centres. Others risked being sold into slavery by traffickers and even death in desperate attempts to cross the Mediterranean or through being caught up in the ongoing fighting.

The Libyan Coast Guard intercepted 493 migrants, including 28 women and five children, in six operations this week near the capital Tripoli.

The spokesman for Libyan Navy Ayoub Qassim has denied accusations made against Libyan coastguards saying they have been selling immigrants to human traffickers.