{"id":103112,"date":"2017-12-11T12:00:19","date_gmt":"2017-12-11T12:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=103112"},"modified":"2017-12-06T12:06:04","modified_gmt":"2017-12-06T12:06:04","slug":"slave-auctions-in-libya-are-the-latest-evidence-of-a-reality-for-migrants-the-eu-prefers-to-ignore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2017\/12\/slave-auctions-in-libya-are-the-latest-evidence-of-a-reality-for-migrants-the-eu-prefers-to-ignore\/","title":{"rendered":"Slave Auctions in Libya Are the Latest Evidence of a Reality for Migrants the EU Prefers to Ignore"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Libyan coastguard has received money from the EU to stop migrant boats crossing the Mediterranean. EPA<\/p><\/div>\n

5 Dec 2017 – <\/em>A man called out numbers against the murky darkness of the Libyan night: \u201c400, 500, 600, 650.\u201d These were bids in Libyan dinars during a slave auction. Video footage<\/a> of these scenes, aired in mid-November by CNN, thrust concerns about the conditions facing migrants at Europe\u2019s borders back into the spotlight.<\/p>\n

In response, the EU called for<\/a> \u201cswift action\u201d, and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, announced a plan<\/a> to launch \u201cconcrete military action\u201d against the perpetrators. The Nigerian government also said it had begun to bring home<\/a> some of its citizens stranded in Libya.<\/p>\n

Efforts to enable people to escape from situations of slavery, violence and exploitation in Libya are certainly welcome. But they will need to go beyond the short-term perspective that so often accompanies responses to proclamations of crisis. And these new efforts will reek of hypocrisy if they do not also recognise the relationship between existing migration control policies and the vulnerability of migrants using routes into and through Libya.<\/p>\n

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Exclusive CNN investigation discovers slave auctions of Africans in Libya. https:\/\/t.co\/Zt8CcbTkWp<\/a><\/p>\n

— CNN Africa (@CNNAfrica) November 14, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n