Chiedi ai tuoi rappresentanti di smettere di facilitare la schiavitù in Libia! - Libya

Call to End Slavery in Libya

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Watch our video for World Refugee Day.

The world was shocked when news of slave markets in Libya broke four years ago, but since then cases of modern slavery, slave trade and slave auctions in Libya have evolved considerably. And they are all linked back to migrant detention centers and the money and power fueling their existence.

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the United Nations have all documented major human rights violations and clear cases of modern slavery in these facilities.

So who’s throwing these vulnerable people behind bars?

The Libyan Coastguard — supported generously by funding from the European Union.1,2

In a bid to prevent refugees and migrants from reaching the shores of Europe, the Libyan Coastguard has increased its interception of boats in the Mediterranean Sea, returning those on board to Libya and locking them up in migrant detention centers.3

And as the devastating, deadly airstrike on the Tajoura migrant detention center shows, these facilities are now targets in the country’s ongoing conflict and no place for refugees to live.

We know racism within Libya is contributing to the problem as well; black and dark-skinned refugees and migrants from Sub-Saharan African are the majority of those trafficked and subjected to forced labor. The United Nations even reported that “a commonly used word to refer to black people in Libya is ‘abidat’, which translates to “slaves.”4

Take it from Leyla, a Somali refugee.

“We barely ate and there wasn’t enough water. So many people were sick with TB, some died in my arms. I was beaten up and we were tortured – with electricity,” she said.5

She and her husband fled Islamist al-Shabab militants in Somalia in 2016 but ended up in the hands of human traffickers in Libya. When they managed to escape their traffickers, the couple boarded an inflatable boat, hoping to cross the Mediterranean.

But when their boat ran out of fuel it was the Libyan Coastguard that forcibly took them to Tripoli, locking them up in the Triq al-Sikka Detention Center. Running out of hope that they would be freed, her husband set himself on fire, burning to death.

A petition has been prepared, we must break this cycle of exploitation.

And that starts with putting pressure on the EU. Telling the EU to put human lives before inhume immigration policies that are sending refugees and migrants back into danger in Libya.

Your signature tells the EU that it can no longer be complicit in allowing modern slavery to persist in Libya. Act now and sign the petition.

  • December 2022: Human Rights Watch and Border Forensics have released in a multimedia research feature with a clear conclusion: the E.U.’s border agency, Frontex, is using aerial surveillance to facilitate returns to Libya, where people on the move face systematic abuse, often amounting to modern slavery.  By alerting the Libyan Coast Guard to the location of migrant boats, Frontex is complicit in the abuse people suffer on return to Libya. Read more.

  • November 2022: Despite hundreds of activists taking to the streets around Europe and flooding social media, Italy’s far-right government failed to take action against modern slavery in Libya. The Italy-Libya Memorandum was renewed, but we won’t stop fighting for justice and freedom for every person who faces forced labor, torture, extortion and abuse in Libya.

  • October, 2022: Hundreds of you in the Freedom United community have taken to Twitter to call on the Ambassador of Italy to Libya and the Ministry of the Interior to cancel the Italy-Libya Memorandum of Understanding. From Barcelona to Berlin, activists in at least 15 European cities also protested on October 15. Read more.

  • October 2022:  Six human rights groups have lodged a complaint accusing the E.U. border agency Frontex of failing to assess the risks to human rights associated with its support for the so-called Libyan Coast Guard. An E.U. ombudsman has opened an inquiry as a result of the complaint and has asked Frontex to provide information on whether risk assessments were carried out. Read more.

  • August 2022: A new report by Alarm Phone documents the rise of the Department of Combating Settlement and Illegal Migration (DCSIM), a competing body of the Government of National Unity’s DCIM, created by a faction of the Stability Support Apparatus (SSA). This group has been responsible for nearly half of all the returns since the beginning of 2022 and is notorious for its brutality.

    The SSA manages the Al Maya detention centers, located about 30 km west of Tripoli. Survivors have reported “guards regularly beating detained migrants and refugees and subjecting them to forced labour, rape and other sexual violence, including forced prostitution” in these centers.

    Read the full report here.

  • Jun 19, 2017: Campaign Launches

Chip in and help end modern slavery once and for all.

Freedom United is interested in hearing from our community and welcomes relevant, informed comments, advice, and insights that advance the conversation around our campaigns and advocacy. We value inclusivity and respect within our community. To be approved, your comments should be civil.

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Lorraine
Lorraine
8 months ago

È aberrante che l’Unione Europea, e l’Italia in particolare, finanzino gli abusi sui migranti in Libia.

This Campaign made an impact with 62 supporters!


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