Status: Human, Value: $200-500 - How a Forgotten Phenomenon Flourishes in Libya
While the world witnesses recent developments (and escapades) of the Trump administration, worryingly follows the threatening gestures coming from North Korea, and prepares for the next chapter of European elections with the French taking to the ballot boxes this weekend, a catastrophic and disturbing development is unfolding at the Southern gateways of Europe. Libya, spiralling into more and more chaos after former dictator Gaddafi was overthrown, not only at the brink of civil war but the entire country being right in the middle of it. The military intervention of 2011 along with the internal quarrels for power has basically left the country in a state of anarchy. Dozens of different groups are trying to gain control.
Being one of the Maghreb states with a short distance to European soil, Libya has become one of the end points for desperate people from the African continent on their way to a better life in Europe. Libya along with Tunisia and Algeria is the start of the journey across the Mediterranean Sea, which has claimed so many lives already. However, reports now show that Libya takes one different development compared to the other two countries, which are more stabilised that the neighbour in the west.
Only recently it has become clear: The country has slowly turned into one big slave market, it has become a hub of human trafficking, according to Narciso Contreras, a photographer, who documented the life of African migrants in Libya.
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) reports that African migrants, mainly from the Sub-Sahara region, on their way north fell victim to smugglers and human traffickers, who claim to help them advance on the route to Europe. Instead, once in Libya, the victims are being sold “by Libyans, with the support of Ghanaians and Nigerians who work for them”.
The sold migrants are being held hostage, tortured, sexually abused. Their tormentors request money to be paid for their release. Money, which the kidnappers make them request from their families. Often the exorbitant sums cannot be paid, and the nightmare for the kidnapped person continues, as he or she is being sold again. There are also reports of killings, when the money could not be provided by the family.
Humans selling humans, for reportedly 200-500 US Dollars, with every further ‘sale’ increasing both the price of the victim as well as the sum requested from the family for his or her release.
Slave trade has its roots in the 1600s, when Europeans began to selling and shipping Africans to North and South America. The Atlantic slave trade ended through legal bans in the perpetrating countries in the early 19th century, with the last country being Brazil in 1831. However, many countries continued illegally, and it took several more decades before not only the trading of humans but slavery itself was banned.
Not only the Atlantic saw humans being forcefully shipped to other countries, also the Mediterranean Sea experienced slave trade, mainly before the Atlantic trade peaked. The Median Ages mainly saw inter-European slave trade, while 500 years ago, Europeans themselves were sold to North Africa and the Middle East, and mainly women from these regions traded back to the Christian dominated countries around the sea.
Central Africa has been known as an area, which still witnesses modern slave trade, although detailed numbers or data are lacking. Libya, however, has not been known to be a ‘slave haven’. However, the political and socio-economic circumstances in the country allow for criminals to abuse the lack of regulation, law and order. Reports on disastrous circumstances in refugee camps, which often resemble detention centres, have been circulating for a while now. Now, it also seems that the developments in recent years have facilitated the establishment of human trafficking structures. And only now IOM officers have learned about the slave markets and organised slave trade as they managed to rescue some victims, or others, whose families managed to pay the requested sums after often several months, who return home and pass through IOM transit centres, testifying on their exertions and hardships.
The chief spokesperson of IOM, Leonard Doyle, summarises: “Migrants who go to Libya while trying to get to Europe, have no idea of the torture archipelago that awaits them just over the border (…) To get the message out across Africa about the dangers, we are recording the testimonies of migrants who have suffered and are spreading them across social media and on local FM radio. Tragically the most credible messengers are migrants returning home with IOM help. Too often they are broken, brutalized and have been abused, often sexually. Their voices carry more weight than anyone else’s.”
Meanwhile the European Union continues to struggle to elaborate a common EU migration policy. It has been announced to invest more into improving protection of migrants and regulating the migration flows in Libya. Especially the latest reports on slave trade should have the effect of a wake-up call to European leaders. Another one.
Photo Credit: Fabricando La Sociedad Adicta
