In the 21st Century, with access to a 24/7 news cycle, there are often no excuses for ignorance. However, with so many different problems in the world around us, it is understandable to not be able to keep up with the constant flow of information. With our news channels often focusing heavily on the western world, and constant updates regarding COVID-19 taking the spotlight, it is easy for issues outside of our direct frame of view to become silenced. However, human justice issues, specifically international injustices, are no less important and deserve greater awareness. Here are two current world issues that you should be informed about that have had a devastating impact on regions of China and Libya.
1. The Persecution and Repression of Uyghur Muslims in China and Concentration Camps
The ethnic cleansing of over two million Uyghur Muslims can be dated back to 2017. However, it is only recently that these gross injustices against the Uyghur people, as a result of religious discrimination, has been brought to light. Modern-day concentration camps, in the Xinjiang region of China, are responsible for the detainment of millions of innocent people. These individuals are subject to forced labour and religious cleansing in an attempt to “reeducate” them into supporting the Chinese Communist Party, or the CCP. There have also been reports of organ harvesting, forced marriages, and women and children being raped.
If you are interested in donating to various sources of aid in support of the Uyghur people, here are some great options:
Demands Made for Justice by the Pakistani Government
United Nations Petition to Stop Religious Persecution to Uyghurs
2. Call to End Slave Labour in Libya
The Modern Slave Labour Crisis is another injustice that has been mostly ignored by mainstream media. As per a United Nations Agency report, an overwhelming volume of individuals have been held for ransom, forced into slave labour and sexually exploited. Firsthand accounts from victims, as reported by the International Organization of Migration, state that these West African migrants are usually bought for $200-500, before being held for two to three months and sold into labour in garages and car parks in Libya’s southern city, Sabha. Regarded solely as commodities, slave labour is undoubtedly a trend by smugglers. Many of these refugees and migrants originate from Nigeria, Senegal and Gambia, and are captured in Libya while attempting to escape to Italy and central Europe. An estimated 26,886 migrants have been sold into slave labour, with reports of over 7,000 missing or pronounced dead. Many are forced into working under their slave owners as guards within the market, ransom houses or as domestic slaves. The reality is worse for women, who are sold into trafficking rings and are sexually exploited through prostitution. Those left in captivity are unable to pay their way out of enslavement, and many of them starve to death or are sexually abused. In many cases, these individuals end up buried in areas where they cannot even be identified by their families.
There are numerous actions that can be taken in support against Human Labour Injustices in Libya. Listed below are a few development refugee organizations that give aid and donations to those suffering:
References
African migrants traded in Libya’s ‘slave markets’
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Concentration camps and forced labor: China’s repression of the Uighurs, explained