BLSU CALLS FOR CAMPUS AWARENESS ON MODERN SLAVERY IN LIBYA AND ELSEWHERE

CNN recorded footage of men being sold for $400 as farm laborers at a nighttime auction in Libya

“While the general public in this country and around the world was made aware of the slave trade via CNN’s slave market video, it must be pointed out that western European governments and “European policymakers have long known about the enslavement of migrants in Libya detention centers” (New York Times, December 1, 2017)

“There are more people in slavery today than at any other time in history. More than 40 million people around the world were victims of modern slavery in 2016, including about 25 million in forced labour, and 15 million in forced marriages” - 50forFreedom.org

PEOPLE ACROSS THE WORLD ARE PROTESTING THIS MODERN EVIL

WHAT YOU CAN DO:1.Write to US ambassador to the UNITED NATIONS/ Libya https://usun.state.gov/contact

2. Sign a global petition for the U.N Security Council to take immediate action:https://www.change.org/p/african-union-stop-the-enslavement-of-black-africans-in-libya

3. Spread the word to fellow students in classroom discussions.

RESEARCH, REVEAL AND JOIN THE FIGHT AGAINST SLAVERY IN LIBYA AND ELSEWHERE

WANT TO GET INVOLVED? CONTACT US AT BLSU@HAMILTON.EDU

“The chaos and lawlessness across Libya has exposed the

migrants to persuasive and well-documented abuses, including,

forced labor (slavery), kidnapping, extortion, rape,

torture, and indefinite inhumane conditions.”

Kirkpatrick D.D. 2017. “Europe Wanted Migrants Stopped. Now Some Are Being Sold as Slaves”. New York Times. Accessed December 2, 2017.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/30/world/africa/slave-market-libya-european-migrants.html

“A report released … by the U.N.-affiliated International

Labor Office (ILO) and the Walk Free Foundation estimates that there were 40.3 million people in some form of modern slavery around the world on any given day last year.”

- Washington Post

There are more people in slavery today than at any other time in history. More than 40 million people around the world were victims of modern slavery in 2016, including about 25 million in forced labour, and 15 million in forced marriages.

-50forfreedom

“The IOM said in April that it

had documented reports of slave

markets along the migrant

routes in North Africa

tormenting hundreds of young

African men bound for Libya.”

Casey Quackenbush, Time Magazine

http://time.com/5042560/libya-slave-trade/

“It’s estimated that between 400,000 and 1 million migrants may now be trapped in Libya, where the vulnerable population is preyed upon by smugglers and other criminal elements who rob, rape, and murder them.”Grace Donnelly, “What You Don't Know, But Should, About the Slave Trade Happening in Libya Right Now”, Fortune.com

“Estimates say that anywhere from 400,000 to nearly 1 million migrants may be trapped in Libya. Government detention centers are overflowing and underfunded, and countless migrants have disappeared into a shadow world of criminality and abuse”

- Ishaan Tharoor, The Washington Posthttps://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/11/29/a-slave-auction-puts-the-global-

spotlight-back-on-libya/?utm_term=.73368b9eca71

Migrants, mostly from West African countries, transit through Libya in hopes of embarking from its shores on often flimsy boats intended to deliver them to Europe, but they often capsize or are turned back by the Libyan coast guard. Thousands drown each year. They are mostly escaping conflict and grinding poverty in their home countries.

Bearak, Max. “African and European Leaders Want to Evacuate Thousands Mired in Libyan Slave Trade.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 30 Nov. 2017,

“It’s a total extortion machine,” Lenard Doyle,

Director of Media and Communications for the IOM in Geneva tells TIME. “Fueled

by the absolute rush of migrants through Libya

thinking they can get out of poverty, following a dream that

doesn’t exist.”

Quackenbush, Casey. “Libyan Slave Trade: Here's What You Need to Know.” Time, Time, time.com/5042560/libya-slave-trade/.

“Migrants who cannot pay their captors are reportedly killed or left to starve to death. “When migrants die or are released, others are purchased to replace them”

“African Refugees Bought, Sold and Murdered in Libya.” Google, Google, www.google.com/amp/www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2017/11/african-refugees-bought-sold-murdered-libya-171129103602048.ht

“In lawless Libya, many see the slave

trade and smuggling as a lucrative industry.

Tackling the country’s humanitarian crisis will

require international assistance.”

- Quackenbush, Casey. “Libyan Slave Trade: Here's What You Need to Know.” Time, Time, time.com/5042560/libya-slave-trade/.

Each year for the past three years, more than 150,000 migrants and

refugees have crossed into Europe from Libya in hopes of making their

way to a new life. It’s a treacherous journey. More than

3,000 people have drowned each of the past four years trying to cross

the Mediterranean Sea.

Many of those being sold are migrants like Victory, a 21-year-old man who fled Nigeria and spent his

life savings in hopes of reaching Europe. He made it as far as Libya when he ran out of funds, he told

CNN, and smugglers sold him as a day laborer to make back a profit.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/30/world/united-nations-libya-human-

slavery/index.html

“Had I lived during slavery times I would have said something”

STAND AGAINST THE SLAVE TRADE IN LIBYA

With estimates of 400,000 to almost one million people now

bottled up Libya, detention centers

are overrun and there are mounting reports of robbery, rape, and

murder among migrants, according to a September report by the U.N.

human rights agency. Conditions in the centers have been described

as “horrific,” and among other abuses, migrants are vulnerable to being sold off as laborers in slave

auctions.

The IOM said in April that it had documented reports of “slave markets” along the

migrant routes in North Africa “tormenting hundreds of

young African men bound for Libya.”