By now you’ve seen the news.
53 migrants and refugees dead in an airstrike.1
Africans being sold off for forced labor.2
Disappearances. Appalling disease.
Detainees being forced to take up arms in the Libyan civil war.3
The world was shocked when news of slave markets in Libya broke two years ago, but since then cases of modern slavery 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.4,5
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.6
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.”7
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.8
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.
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.
Notes:
- https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/07/libya-investigate-abhorrent-attack-on-migrant-detention-centre/ ↩
- https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/04/iom-african-migrants-traded-libya-slave-markets-170411141809641.html ↩
- https://www.nytimes.com/video/world/middleeast/100000006594318/europe-shut-african-migrants-out-libyan-rebels-bombed-them.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share ↩
- https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/jan/21/eu-support-for-libya-contributes-to-extreme-abuse-of-refugees-human-rights-watch-study ↩
- https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/08/un-accuses-libyan-linked-to-eu-funded-coastguard-of-people-trafficking ↩
- https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/jul/10/under-fire-libya-refugee-detention-centres ↩
- https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/LY/LibyaMigrationReport.pdf ↩
- https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-49154959 ↩
Merle L.,
Sandra M.,
Julia S.,
Rachel H.,
Kelvin L.,
Matilde S.,
Karine D.,
Mich P.,
It was NATO that caused the whole catastrophe in Libya in 2011 by toppling its government, killing and maiming many of its people, creating massive numbers of refugees and destroying infrastructure. Now European governments don’t want to take responsibility for the refugees who are the victims of their criminal actions.
Citizens of NATO nations should ensure that their leaders take responsibility for the death and suffering that they caused and that they do everything to assist the victims.
What about Barack and Clinton affair there? Nato or France US??
Outrageous,may we all do smth to help.
Refuge are not only from Syria most are black young people from Africa that tray to follow the dream of EU, but end in picking up tomato in Italy under mafia or in Spain orticulture with same treatment. Pour pay, terrible condition. Some are like the Nigeria now controlling the prostitution and drug in Italy where people are logically not so happy about to had such criminal there by already fight drangheda, camorra and mafia with a lot of corruption. France and UK are not in better situation !
These atrocious acts against refugees in Libya are simply something that should never ever be able to exist and happen in this world today. Someone and some authority /body including the EU has to take responsibility for being part of the henious acts perpetrated upon these refugee victims. Unless this happens we will be a very long way from aiding these desperate people into living normal, decent and fulfilling lives.
Human trafficking is against humanity hence it must be end as early as possible ,thanks
the only way to end migration chaos and trafficking is to abolish all boarders and let people decide where they want o settle and build up a new life or connect with loved ones. End asylum procedures which are costly and hurtful and devastating and give people a chance to make their own choices. Have the boarders in a symbolic way just like we have regions today, for community building and more closeness to everyday life business, education, healthcare, infrastructure…