Numerous migrants trying to escape Africa are becoming slave trade victims in Libya.
Numerous migrants trying to escape Africa are becoming slave trade victims in Libya.
The International Organization for Migration, or IOM, issued a news release Tuesday describing the grim situation many face as they travel through the volatile north African country, a common launching point for boats to Europe.
According to the release, these migrants can be kidnapped by people along the migration route or by locals pretending to need day laborers.
Victims are then often transported to a holding area with other captives and forced to ask their families for money in exchange for their release--often while being beaten.
In the case studies presented in IOM’s release, ransoms ranged from a few hundred U.S. dollars to several thousand.
The release notes that captives who cannot produce payments are reportedly often killed, and new hostages are then purchased and brought in as replacements.
Mohammed Abdiker, IOM’s Director of Operation and Emergencies, is quoted as saying, “What we know is that migrants who fall into the hands of smugglers face systematic malnutrition, sexual abuse and even murder. 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.”
As such, the organization is trying to warn people in Africa about the Libyan slave trade, often by presenting stories from survivors themselves.
