African migrants auctioned at modern-day slave markets in Libya

TMP – 19/04/2017

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) believes that hundreds of African migrants passing through Libya are being bought and sold for up to $500 each in modern-day slave markets.

The migrants are then held for extended ransom, forced labour or sexual exploitation.

The UN agency has interviewed a number of West African migrants, who recounted being traded in garages and car parks in the southern city of Sabha, one of Libya’s main people-smuggling centres.

“Migrants are being sold for between $200 and $500 in the market as a commodity,” said Othman Belbeisi, the head of the IOM’s Libya mission.

“Selling human beings is becoming a trend among smugglers as the smuggling networks in Libya are becoming stronger and stronger,” he added.

From interviews with illegal migrant women, Belbesi said” We heard a lot about bad treatment, rape and being forced into prostitution,”.

A Senegalese ‘slave’ explainedthat after the sale, migrant workers are taken to makeshift prisons. The captives are made to work for no pay n, and are given meager rations. Often the captives’ families are threatened to pay a ransom.

IOM says that testimonies from migrants show that some of those who cannot pay their captors are reportedly killed or left to starve to death.

Mohammed Abdiker, IOM’s head of operation and emergencies, speaking to the Guardian newspaper said: “The situation is dire. The more IOM engages inside Libya, the more we learn that it is a vale of tears for many migrants and refugees.”

“What we know is that migrants who fall into the hands of smugglers face systematic malnutrition, sexual abuse and even murder,” Abdiker continued.

Giuseppe Loprete from IOM Niger explained many migrants are fleeing Libya to return home meaning these terrible tragedies are coming to light. He predicted“Conditions are worsening in Libya so I think we can also expect [to hear more stories] in the coming months,” Niger head said.

As conditions for migrants in Libya are getting increasingly worse, many see no other option but to flee to neighboring Tunisia to find temporary safety and eventually return home through IOM’s assisted voluntary return programme.

IOM Niger alone has arranged the return  of nearly 1,500 stranded migrants from Libya so far this year – almost as many for the whole of 2015.