Africans are being sold by their captors in "slave markets" in Libya, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said.
They are held for ransom, forced to work, or sexually exploited. Prices range from 200 US dollars to 500 US dollars, the UN migration agency said in a report on Tuesday. Most slaves are used as day laborers in construction and agriculture. Many of them do not get paid.
The emergence of slave markets is a result of the influx of refugees fleeing conflict in Nigeria, Senegal, and The Gambia. These migrants are captured as they head north toward Libya’s Mediterranean coast.
This handout picture released on May 25, 2016 by the Italian Navy (Marina Militare) shows the shipwreck of an overcrowded boat of migrants off the Libyan coast today. /VCG Photo
"The latest reports of 'slave markets' for migrants can be added to a long list of outrages (in Libya)," said Mohammed Abdiker, IOM's head of operation and emergencies. "The situation is dire. The more IOM engages inside Libya, the more we learn that it is a vale of tears for all too many migrants."
IOM’s office in Niger cited a case of a Senegalese migrant who this week returned home after months in captivity. The migrant was held in a Libyan’s home with about 100 others. He and the others were all beaten and their families were told to pay ransom for their release. He was then bought by another Libyan, who set a new price for his release.
Libya has been in chaos since the 2011 ouster of its former leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Migrants embrace on the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) ship Topaz Responder after being rescued around 20 nautical miles off the coast of Libya, June 23, 2016. /VCG Photo
Abdiker said the IOM has gained access to several detention centers in Libya in recent months.
"What we know is that migrants who fall into the hands of smugglers face systematic malnutrition, sexual abuse and even murder," he said. "Last year we learned 14 migrants died in a single month in one of those locations, just from disease and malnutrition. We are hearing about mass graves in the desert."
He said so far this year, the Libyan Coast Guard and others have found 171 bodies washed up on Mediterranean shores, from migrant voyages that foundered off shore. The Coast Guard has also rescued thousands more, he added.
