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After a seemingly long absence, slaves are now available again in open markets in Libya. It's too early to tell yet what the quality and quantities are available, but we should be vigilant for new business opportunities.
One trend that has been disturbing during the last few years is the high price of cotton. If anyone has noticed, clothing and other textiles (like bed sheets) are now made from cheap polyester and "microfiber", and cotton products, when you can find them, are outrageously expensive.
While much of modern cotton production has been given over to mechanization, one can't help but think that Making America Great Again would entail bringing back the old traditions of raising cotton and boosting the economy.
One trend that has been disturbing during the last few years is the high price of cotton. If anyone has noticed, clothing and other textiles (like bed sheets) are now made from cheap polyester and "microfiber", and cotton products, when you can find them, are outrageously expensive.
While much of modern cotton production has been given over to mechanization, one can't help but think that Making America Great Again would entail bringing back the old traditions of raising cotton and boosting the economy.
Migrants from West Africa being ‘sold in Libyan slave markets’
UN migration agency says selling of people is rife in African nation that has slid into violent chaos since overthrow of Gaddafi
Emma Graham-Harrison
Monday 10 April 2017 14.43 EDT
West African migrants are being bought and sold openly in modern-day slave markets in Libya, survivors have told a UN agency helping them return home.
Trafficked people passing through Libya have previously reported violence, extortion and slave labour. But the new testimony from the International Organization for Migration suggests that the trade in human beings has become so normalised that people are being traded in public.
“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.”
The north African nation is a major exit point for refugees from Africa trying to take boats to Europe. But since the overthrow of autocratic leader Muammar Gaddafi, the vast, sparsely populated country has slid into violent chaos and migrants with little cash and usually no papers are particularly vulnerable.
One 34-year-old survivor from Senegal said he was taken to a dusty lot in the south Libyan city of Sabha after crossing the desert from Niger in a bus organised by people smugglers. The group had paid to be taken to the coast, where they planned to risk a boat trip to Europe, but their driver suddenly said middlemen had not passed on his fees and put his passengers up for sale.
“The men on the pick-up were brought to a square, or parking lot, where a kind of slave trade was happening. There were locals – he described them as Arabs – buying sub-Saharan migrants,” said Livia Manante, an IOM officer based in Niger who helps people wanting to return home.
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UN migration agency says selling of people is rife in African nation that has slid into violent chaos since overthrow of Gaddafi
Emma Graham-Harrison
Monday 10 April 2017 14.43 EDT
West African migrants are being bought and sold openly in modern-day slave markets in Libya, survivors have told a UN agency helping them return home.
Trafficked people passing through Libya have previously reported violence, extortion and slave labour. But the new testimony from the International Organization for Migration suggests that the trade in human beings has become so normalised that people are being traded in public.
“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.”
The north African nation is a major exit point for refugees from Africa trying to take boats to Europe. But since the overthrow of autocratic leader Muammar Gaddafi, the vast, sparsely populated country has slid into violent chaos and migrants with little cash and usually no papers are particularly vulnerable.
One 34-year-old survivor from Senegal said he was taken to a dusty lot in the south Libyan city of Sabha after crossing the desert from Niger in a bus organised by people smugglers. The group had paid to be taken to the coast, where they planned to risk a boat trip to Europe, but their driver suddenly said middlemen had not passed on his fees and put his passengers up for sale.
“The men on the pick-up were brought to a square, or parking lot, where a kind of slave trade was happening. There were locals – he described them as Arabs – buying sub-Saharan migrants,” said Livia Manante, an IOM officer based in Niger who helps people wanting to return home.
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