“The men on the pick-up were brought to a square, or parking lot, where a kind of slave trade was happening. There were locals – he described them as Arabs – buying sub-Saharan migrants.” Livia Manante, IOM officer.1
Since 2015, hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants have crossed the Mediterranean into Europe from Africa and the Middle East. Known as the ‘Gateway to Europe’, Libya has seen many people pass through its borders as part of their journey. Unfortunately, traffickers are exploiting the complete lack of governance in the country and migrant and refugees’ desperation. Slave markets are flourishing around the country.
Traffickers offering to take refugees and migrants to the coast are instead selling them to the highest bidder. Migrants and refugees faced with the loss of their savings and huge debts are often unable to buy their way out.
“They took people and put them in the street, under a sign that said ‘for sale’” Shamsuddin Jibril, migrant from Cameroon.2
On the market, men and women are sold for between $200 and $500 each.3 Once bought, they are held for ransom in mass prisons and detention centers, or used as forced labor or sexual exploitation. Conditions are extreme, with hundreds crammed into filthy rooms, with little space, food or access to water. Often, they will be resold and moved between prisons as their slave masters demand more and more in ransom.
Those that escape have spoken of the methods used by the slave masters to extract ransoms from relatives, including beating and torturing their captives, often while on the phone to their families.
“People were tied up like goats, beaten with broom handles and pipes every blessed day, to get the money,” Isoomah, survivor from Liberia.4
Those that do escape are often severely malnourished and bearing the wounds of torture. Almost 100% of women reported to have been sexually abused.5 Many aren’t so fortunate – death and murder are a reality for those who can’t pay. The IOM have reported the findings of mass graves in the deserts of Libya.6
The escalation of chaos and violence in Libya since the overthrow of dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 has encouraged the spread of crime and exploitation. With no stable government to uphold the law, there is no protection for the hundreds of thousands of migrants, many without legal papers or funds, travelling through its lands.
Besides efforts to try and save lives at sea, nothing is being done to bring an end to the horrors of Libyan slave markets, and stop those rescued off the Libyan coast from being returned to detention centres where they risk enslavement.
We must call for immediate action and demand the international community take notice of this atrocity.
Case Study One: The Survivor
Yusuf and his friend Abdullah travelled to Libya from Nigeria – they paid half their fares up front and agreed to work on arrival to make up the rest. But upon completing the journey, the driver kept their money and sold them to a slave master. Accused of not paying, Yusuf and Abdullah were led away, “as we entered the building, we heard the lock turning,” Yusuf said. “Then they said , ‘you should call your family fast and ask for money.’” Following extensive torture, Abdullah died of a heart attack. Yusuf risked an escape attempt after being ordered to take his friend’s body to the hospital, scared he too would die. Although now free, Yusuf has to live with what happens and is trying to etch out a survival in Agadez, Niger.7
Case Study Two: The Slave Trader
Abahi* uses his Hilux to drive people to Sabha, in south west Libya, where they will be sold in the slave markets. The 27 migrants he transports in his van are a mix of cargo and passengers – those who haven’t fully paid their fare tragically unaware of their fate. The militia ruling the markets in Sabha pay Abahi 400 euros for each passenger who has not paid their fare. Abahi admits to worrying about the migrants’ fate, but claims, “it’s no good. But what can we do? Inside Libya, everything is ruled by the militias.”8
*Name changed to protect privacy
Notes:
- https://www.iom.int/news/iom-learns-slave-market-conditions-endangering-migrants-north-africa ↩
- http://africa-online.com/2017/05/26/african-migrants-flee-poverty-only-to-get-sucked-into-violent-crime/ ↩
- http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/04/iom-african-migrants-traded-libya-slave-markets-170411141809641.html ↩
- http://africa-online.com/2017/05/26/african-migrants-flee-poverty-only-to-get-sucked-into-violent-crime/ ↩
- http://www.newsweek.com/libya-eu-migrants-malta-declaration-slaves-583616 ↩
- http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/04/iom-african-migrants-traded-libya-slave-markets-170411141809641.html ↩
- http://africa-online.com/2017/05/26/african-migrants-flee-poverty-only-to-get-sucked-into-violent-crime/ ↩
- http://africa-online.com/2017/05/26/african-migrants-flee-poverty-only-to-get-sucked-into-violent-crime/ ↩
Bojan M.,
Caitlin G.,
Susana P.,
Peter M.,
This is wrong for what they did to her
We must call upon UN to impose severest sanctions on the countries which are allowing slave trade, Let the whole civilised world know what is happening in this age age of LIBERATION and FREEDOM.We cannot permit slave trade in any part of this mother EARTH.
We need to give equal opportunities to all , however in Asia / Muslims countries should control their population according to clothes.
Make one World one Country. Become World Citizen. The nation states have lost their relevance. All those traffickers and international criminals have State’s backing. The Crime has become GLOBALIZED and we have lagged behind in becoming GLOBALIZED>
Eurooe needs to stop taking in irregular migrants from the sea !! Now even people from Bangaladesh are crossing with no pretext of a war in their country. Europe stop being Naive !!! They are taking us all fir a ride.
However Europe you must at the same time own up to the savage exploitation that you carried out in the past especially in Africa and )here it comes!) REFUND .
Quite right: Bangladesh is at war with no-one: it’s just up beyond its ears in unprecedentedly heavy monsoon rains and poverty!