Photo Credit: Daily Nation
From recent CNN reports, we have learned that Libya is currently engaging in slave marketing by auctioning off African refugees for as little as $400 in Tripoli markets. As chilling as these reports are, the idea of these acts might not be so strange in Libya, as it has only been a few years since their revolution. Many of these refugees are believed to be from Nigeria, Guinea, Niger, Mali, Eritrea Senegal, Cameroon, and The Gambia, wanting to cross Libyan borders in search of better living in Europe, and escape the corruption of their own country.
According to reports, for the past three years migrants have been to Libya to cross its borders in order to get into Europe. But this is not an easy task. Over 3,000 migrants have drowned in each of the past four years while crossing the Mediterranean Sea in order to get to Europe, according to figures from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the U.N.’s migration agency. In order to stop the smuggling of migrants from entering Europe, the Libyan Coast Guards were order to stop the boats. This then sends the migrants back to Libya. Since they more than likely have spent most or all of their money in order to get to Europe, when they get back to Libya ground, they are trapped causing detention centers to be overpopulated and filled with acts of rape and murder among the returned immigrants. Smugglers have also conspired with militias and quasi-governmental forces in Libya, since Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi was overthrown and tortured to death by U.S.- and NATO-backed rebels, to imprison thousands of immigrants from all over Africa into a new system of slavery.
Photo Credit: TIME.com