History is being repeated in Libya, where millions of Africans are being enslaved, trafficked and auctioned to the highest bidder. A group of human rights experts strongly condemned Libya’s slave trade amid reports that hundreds of African refugees are being bought and sold across the country every week.
The joint statement issued in Thursday 30th November, the group urged the Libyan government to take “urgent action” to end the practice. “The inclusion of images of migrants being auctioned as merchandise, and evidential enslavement of Africans which they gathered since “according to their statement. It is a clear reality that slavery is an outrageous reality in Libya.
Among the signatories to the statement were Urmila Bhoola, the UN special Reporter on contemporary forms of slavery; Felipe Gonzalez-Morales, the special reporter on the human rights of migrants; Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, the special reporter on trafficking in persons; and others with expertise on human rights and minority issues.
An estimated 700,000 migrants are in Libya, which is among the key transit pathways towards Europe, according to a UN estimate.
A human trafficker recently told Al Jazeera that many of the enslaved refugees are held for ransom or forced into prostitution and sexual exploitation to pay their captors and smugglers. Others are murdered by smugglers or die in the desert from thirst or car accidents.
Libya's ambassador to the UN has said that the reports of slave auctions will be fully investigated.
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