Libya probes modern slavery

ROME • The Libyan government is to investigate allegations that African migrants are being sold as slaves at auctions.

Tens of thousands of migrants, many of them from West Africa but also Bangladesh, Somalia, Sudan and Eritrea, are being held in camps and warehouses on the Libyan coast, hoping to reach Europe.

When the warehouses become overcrowded, or if migrants are unable to pay traffickers for the boat journey towards Italy where many are rescued by NGO-operated vessels, they are sold.

The existence of modernday slave markets has been known for months, with testimony from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and other humanitarian agencies, but last week CNN obtained video footage of one such auction.

In scenes reminiscent of the 19th century, auctioneers advertised a group of West African migrants as “big strong boys for farm work.”

The CNN footage showed buyers bidding for the migrants, who were sold off for as little as US$400 each.

One West African man told the television network: “Sure, I was sold.”

Others recounted how they were beaten by their “owners” as they put to work.

The network attributed the recent emergence of slave markets in Libya to the sharp fall in migrant arrivals in Europe over the summer.

Italy, with the support of the European Union, has a policy of beefing up Libya’s coast guard patrols to prevent migrants from leaving aboard smugglers’ dinghies bound for Europe.

Libya’s smugglers, faced with a drop off in demand for their services, have responded by auctioning off migrants.

Ahmed Metig, the deputy prime minister of the UNbacked Government of National Accord in Tripoli, said the allegations would be investigated.

He said he would establish a “commission to investigate these reports in order to apprehend and bring those responsible to justice.”

Alpha Conde, the president of Guinea and chairman of the African Union, where many migrants come from, called for an inquiry and prosecutions relating to what he termed a “despicable trade ... from another era”.

The Senegalese government called the apparent slave market a “blight on the conscience of humanity”.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is calling for an immediate investigation into the matter, saying transactions may amount to crimes against humanity.

Guterres said Monday that “slavery has no place in our world and these actions are among the most egregious abuses of human rights.”

The former UN refugee chief said he was “horrified” by the CNN footage.

Guterres called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice and said he has asked appropriate UN bodies “to actively pursue this matter.”