In 2017, a video showing two men being auctioned off for money in Libya was made public, provoking investigations by the UN, media outlets, and broadcasting stations globally. Even though media attention has died down, the problem still exists: this is the Slave Trade in Libya.

The roots of this situation lie in the migrants searching for a better life and opportunities in Europe. Every year, there are tens of thousands of people who cross Libya’s borders, fleeing conflict or economic struggles.

The majority of these people have sold everything and given up their possessions in order to pay for the passage. They travel through Libya and use the Mediterranean as an entry to Europe.

Between 2014 and 2017, 150,000 people crossed the Mediterranean Sea from Libya. According to the U.N.’s migration agency, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), since 2013, around 3,000 refugees have died every year attempting to complete this journey.

A few years ago, the Libyan coastguard — supported by European Union funds, especially from Italy — reduced the amount of boats actually going out to sea in order to clamp down on smugglers that have a hidden agenda filled with would-be passengers.

Thanks to this operation, there are now between 500,000 and one million people in Libya in overrun detention centers that are pouring over with reports of robbery, murder, and rape. The conditions within these facilities have been described on various occasions as “horrifying”.

The amount of people bottled up in these centers has made migrants more and more vulnerable to being sold off as laborers in slave-like auctions.

Lenard Doyle, Director of Media and Communications for the IOM in Geneva, has called the detentions centers a “total extortion machine fueled by the rush of migrants thinking they can get out of poverty.”

The IOM has stated in the past that it is in possession of documented reports of slave markets across migrant routes in North Africa. According to an investigation conducted by CNN, some specific locations in Libya include Zuwara, Castelverde, Sabratah, Garyan, Alrujban, Alzintan, Gabaw, Gadamis, and Kabaw, however there are believed to be many more cities with the same situation.

“In these centers they become commodities to be bought, sold, and discarded when they have no more value.”

Lenard Doyle in a statement

According to CNN, the Libyan government, backed by the U.N., launched an investigation into these claims, however political tensions in the country has made some countries call it a “failed state”.

After Muammar Gaddafi was ousted after running the country for 40 years was ousted, Libya fell into civil war. It has divided into numerous factions of gangs, tribes, and militias. Many see the slave trade and smuggling of people as a profitable industry.

After the infamous video went viral back in 2017, the international community called for immediate action on tackling the crisis. Some nations recalled their ambassadors from Libya, and there were protests outside Libyan embassies.

There was an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting to address the situation and several countries made statements regarding the slave trade and inhumane conditions.

These people have been sold and branded like objects, forced to undertake slave-like labor and given no compensation in return. The Libyan Slave Trade is slowly evolving into an industry that feeds off of the desire for a better life and opportunities.

Many see slavery as ancient history, however there are currently more than three times as many people in forced labor today, than there were captured and sold during the 350-year transatlantic slave trade, according to the United Nation’s International Labor Organization.

The ILO has called this the “new slavery”. What this type of slavery has done take in around 25 million people in debt bondage, and coerced another 15 million into forced marriages. This industry earns criminal networks approximately $150 billion a year; it falls short only of two industries, drug smuggling and weapons trafficking.

This slave trade is spreading. Journalists have documented reports of similar situations in Southern Europe, specifically Italy. Groups of vulnerable migrants are consistently being forced to work without pay in fields picking tomatoes, olives, and citrus fruits. They have also on numerous occasions been trafficked directly into prostitution rings.

“We no longer need slavers going into Africa to capture their quarry. The rope of desperation has replaced their iron chains. Now Africans are sending themselves to Europe and becoming slaves in the process.”

Aboubakar Soumahoro, a union representative who came to Italy from Ivory Coast 18 years ago with the hope of finding a better life. (Quote and citation via TIME)

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Link on way you can help the Libyan Slave Trade:

https://www.bustle.com/p/how-to-help-stop-libyas-slave-trade-fight-slavery-around-the-world-5554300

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