{"id":33869,"date":"2017-04-12T14:22:26","date_gmt":"2017-04-12T14:22:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/african-migrants-sold-as-slaves-for-200-in-libya\/"},"modified":"2017-04-12T14:22:23","modified_gmt":"2017-04-12T14:22:23","slug":"african-migrants-sold-as-slaves-for-200-in-libya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/african-migrants-sold-as-slaves-for-200-in-libya\/","title":{"rendered":"African migrants sold as ‘slaves\u2019 for $200 in Libya"},"content":{"rendered":"

{African migrants trying to reach Europe are being sold into slavery in Libya, including for sex, for as little as $200, international monitors said today, citing testimony from victims.}<\/p>\n

Having paid human traffickers in the hope of finding a better life many instead were held hostage and their families extorted for ransom.<\/p>\n

The International Organization for Migration said \u201cslave market conditions\u201d and detention were increasingly common as criminal gangs sought to cash in.<\/p>\n

\u201cSelling human beings is becoming a trend among smugglers as the smuggling networks in Libya are becoming stronger,\u201d Othman Belbeisi, the IOM\u2019s chief of mission in Libya, told reporters in Geneva. \u201cMigrants … are being sold in markets as a commodity\u201d at a going rate of between $200 and $500 a head, he said.<\/p>\n

While some migrants sold this way managed to escape, many wallowed in captivity for months before being bought free or sold on.<\/p>\n

The UN agency could not provide statistics over how many people were affected, but relied on accounts provided to its staff on the ground. In one case, a Senegalese migrant identified only as S.C., told IOM staff he had been held captive for months after he made the perilous journey to Libya.<\/p>\n

After paying a trafficker more than $300 to arrange for him to be driven through the desert, he was apparently conned when he arrived in Libya, with a truck driver saying the trafficker never paid him the money.<\/p>\n

The driver had taken S.C. and other migrants to a parking area where a \u201cslave market\u201d was taking place, an IOM statement said. \u201cSub-Saharan migrants were being sold and bought by Libyans,\u201d the statement said, citing staff in Niger who took the man\u2019s testimony.<\/p>\n

S.C. described being bought and taken to a private home where more than 100 migrants were held as hostages.<\/p>\n

They were forced to call their families back home, and were beaten while on the phone, to try and make sure they would get the money demanded for their freedom.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen somebody died or was released, kidnappers returned to the market to ‘buy\u2019 more migrants to replace them,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWomen too were bought by private individuals …(and) were forced to be sex slaves,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n

An IOM staff member in Niger had spoken with a number of migrants in recent days who \u201call confirmed the risks of being sold as slaves in squares or garages\u201d once in Libya, it said.<\/p>\n

Some migrants, mainly Nigerians, Ghanaians and Gambians, were also \u201cforced to work for the kidnappers\/slave traders as guards in the ransom houses or in the ‘market\u2019 itself,\u201d the IOM staff member said.<\/p>\n

One migrant, whose name was not given, told IOM he and 25 other Gambians were taken to a \u201cprison\u201d in Libya, and was beaten every day for nine months before his father paid for his release by selling the family home.<\/p>\n

When he was freed he weighed just 35 kilos and was suffering from severe malnutrition and numerous torture wounds.<\/p>\n

\"Migrants<\/figure>\n

Source:AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

{African migrants trying to reach Europe are being sold into slavery in Libya, including for sex, for as little as $200, international monitors said today, citing testimony from victims.} Having paid human traffickers in the hope of finding a better life many instead were held hostage and their families extorted for ransom. The International Organization […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[100],"byline":[160],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-33869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-africa","byline-theophile-niyitegeka"],"bylines":[{"id":160,"name":"Th\u00e9ophile Niyitegeka","slug":"theophile-niyitegeka","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":3}],"contributors":[{"id":160,"name":"Th\u00e9ophile Niyitegeka","slug":"theophile-niyitegeka","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":3}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33869\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33869"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=33869"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=33869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}