The Slave Trade in Libya

By: Praguni Kumar

If you think we left slavery back in the late 1800s, then let me enlighten you.

Slavery still exists. 

Modern Day Slavery takes in 25 million people in debt bondage and 15 million in forced marriage. People do it because it's lucrative, earning criminal networks $150 billion a year, just behind drug smuggling and weapons trafficking. It is at a point where it is far more profitable than the times it began, which dates back to 1830s.

In 2016, the year Iabarot set out from Nigeria, the number of migrants arriving in Italy from Libya spiked to 163,000, prompting a political backlash and a determination to stanch the flow at all costs.

Migrants and refugees in Libya are being auctioned openly and are held captive against their wishes in inhumane and harsh conditions, in exchange for some ransom money. They are kept in illegal detention centers and are provided with 1 bread a day- and sometimes even starved. They are given 1 restroom for each 320-350 people to use. Apart from the horrendous living conditions, in an interview, one of the survivor said “they would electrocute our nipples and waterboard us and following that they would pour hot oil on our naked body." Along with that, they are hung upside down and beaten with sticks and water hoses. As claimed by one of the interviewees, night time conditions aren't any better- the guards would get high on drugs and then abuse and torture the migrants. Young girls are subjected to rape, and children as young as the ages of 2 are exposed to violence. There are also infants present, born as a result of constant rape by the Libyan captor. 

The situation for refugees and migrants in Libya still remain bleak even after the political backlash. 

You may ask why is slave trade so prominent in Libya- and why it exists in the first place. The main reason why slave trade exists in Libya is because Libya is the main transit point for refugees and migrants trying to reach Europe by sea. In Libya they are treated as commodities to be bought, sold  and discarded when not in use. 

If you thought 2020 couldn't get worse, you were mistaken.

** Recommendation from the author: please watch the video of men appearing to be sold at an auction in Libya for $400 for further insight on what's happening.