UN Mission condemns slave trade of migrants in Libya

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UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) on Wednesday condemned slave trade of African migrants in western Libya.

The mission's reaction came after a recent CNN report exposed auction footages, which showed stranded migrants were sold as slaves for as little as 400 US dollars

"The United Nations in Libya, dismayed and sickened by the recent video footage of African migrants being sold as "goods" in the country, is actively pursuing the matter with the Libyan authorities to set up transparent monitoring mechanism that safeguards migrants against horrific human rights abuses," the Mission said in a statement released on Wednesday.

The CNN report revealed auctions in different parts of Libya, where the tens of thousands of migrants 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.

Migrants are held on average for two or three months, the IOM said. /Reuters Photo

The Libyan governments are currently undergoing investigations regarding the allegations.

Libya's eastern-based House of Representatives Speaker, Agila Saleh, on Tuesday, condemned slave trade in western Libya, ordering an investigation into the incident.

"This new footage, if confirmed, compounds the already unimaginable and inhumane horrors endured by migrants in Libya including, but not restricted to, human trafficking, forced labor, unlawful killings; sexual abuse of men, women and children, arbitrary detentions, all carried out in a system with no accountability or due process," the statement added.

"We cannot be a silent witness to modern day slavery, rape, forced labor and killings," Said Ghassan Salame, head of the UN Mission said, calling on the Libyan government to "address comprehensively this outrage to the conscience of humanity. The international community cannot continue to turn a blind eye as this already dire situation."

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency