httpss://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S2qtGisT34
France’s ambassador to the UN has urged the Security Council to impose sanctions on the people involved in Libya’s slave trade of African refugees and migrants.
Francois Delattre’s comments come as h.uman trafficking in Libya has become a burning topic since a CNN investigation produced footage of West Africans being sold at slave markets in November.
A sanctions programme set up in 2011, the year of the US-supported invasion of Libya which saw the overthrow of long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi, allows the Security Council to place sanctions on “Individuals and entities involved in or complicit in ordering, controlling, or otherwise directing, the commission of serious human rights abuses against persons in Libya”.
Slavery and human trafficking have been present in Libya for years.
Even under Gaddafi, Libya “Struggled” with arms trafficking, drug trafficking and human trafficking, according to Turbi, who has worked with the US government to save lives in the North African country.
Libya descended into a civil war in 2014 and is widely considered a failed state.
Other members of the Security Council have condemned modern-day slavery in Libya.
Asked if sanctions could help end the sale of human beings in Libya, Turbi, the rights defender, said he was not sure.
“What is really needed is work to institute a viable government in Libya, not a failed state. The government in Libya is helpless.”