By Imani Jean-Gilles Posted on

Modern Day Slavery in Libya Podcast

LIBYA

Modern Day Slavery in Libya Podcast 

 This podcast focuses on the modern day slave trade that is currently taking place in Libya. Many African migrants and refugees that are escaping their countries and trying to get to Europe for a better  life. But they are being held in limbo in Libya, where they are being detained and some being sold into slavery.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=l_LKp9w3kdM%3Ffeature%3Doembed

Modern Day Slave Trade in Libya Script

What you just heard, was a song called Sawfa Nabqa Huna, a popular revolutionary chant or what’s referred to as a nasheed in Arabic. It is translated to

“We will stay here

So the Pain goes away

We will stay here

The melody will sweeten

My home land My home land”

 It’s a nasheed of resistance, freedom and change during the 2011 Libyan Revolution. A song that united those who sang it, in the hope that Libya would be become an unrestricted and unified state in the future.

Fast forward six years later and a different chant is being heard for freedom. This time from the African migrants in Libya being transported and bought as slaves.

The Libyan state has failed its people, after the fall of Gaddaffi, Libya has been in shambles, a country torn in civil wars and constant attacks from ISISI. With a failed state comes smugglers, human trafficking and now modern-day slave trade. This is a reflection of how dysfunctional the state has become since the 2011 Libyan Revolution.

The Libyan Slave Trade controversy was exposed just back in November 2017 when a video, published by CNN. It reportedly showed African migrants being showcased by auctioneers as if they were property as smugglers sell them to the highest bidder. Some for as little as $400 each

The main question is how did Libya get to this point? Here is what, Thione Niang, political activist and co-founder of Akon Lighting Africa, had to say during an interview on MSNBC

“Excerpt Audio”

Before the downfall of Libya, it was a functioning state that played a huge role in holding back illegal migrants from crossing the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe, It was the gatekeeper of the African Crisis. Many of these migrants are fleeing their countries to escape poverty and violence, to seek better opportunities in Europe. According to Amanda Sakuma, a national reporter at MSNBC,

“The country’s 1,100-mile coastline has effectively become an open border without government forces to monitor who comes and who goes. Smugglers have filled the void, willing to tightly pack hundreds of migrants at a time into flimsy vessels and shuttle them to Italy. ”

According to, The International Organization for Migration, it estimated that nearly 182,000 migrants from Libya have landed in Italy between the years of 2013–2014, exacerbating a massive refugee crisis already spilling out of Syria and other parts of the Middle East.

http://www.msnbc.com/specials/migrant-crisis/libya

Now that the video of African migrants being sold has gone viral, what has the international community done? So far The UN secretary-general, Antonio Guterres said in response to the video that he was “horrified” at the findings and called for immediate investigations.

Secretary-General Guterres said,

“I abhor these appalling acts and call upon all competent authorities to investigate these activities without delay and to bring the perpetrators to justice,” Guterres said. “I have asked the relevant United Nations actors to actively pursue this matter.”

Urging the international community to unite on the issue, the UN chief called on all countries to adopt the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its protocol on human trafficking.

The story on Libya provides the international community a reminder of the need to manage migration flows in a humane manner that addresses the root causes.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/20/africa/un-secretary-general-libya-slave-auctions/index.html

Many countries since the release of the viral video have condemned inhumane actions that are taking place in Libya. However this story is still developing there hasn’t been a concrete plan to eradicate the illegal actions since it is still under investigation.

Libya, the first domino that fell, causing an unfortunate chain reaction that is still progressing throughout the Africa, Europe and the Middle East. The Libyan Revolution in 2011 was intended to be a turning point in African History, but this is not how the Libyan citizens imagined it. They envisioned progress and chanted songs for democracy and equality. Today it is quite the opposite.

RESOURCES

Imani Jean Gilles

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