ITUC condemns sale of migrant workers in Libya

Stories by Moses John

The African Regional Organisation of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-Africa) expresses its alarm over the recent revelations of the heinous trade in slavery of African migrants in open markets in Libya reminiscent of the trade in human cargo across the Sahara and the Atlantic Ocean centuries ago.
According to a statement by it’s general secretary Comrade Kwasi Adu-Amankwah, said the recent doings follow in the wake of the inhuman treatment that many migrants have received in the past in Libya and other places.
“ITUC-Africa joins in the condemnation of this modern slavery in the strongest terms. We join the African Union (AU) in calling on the Libyan government to ensure that this reported development is thoroughly investigated, the perpetrators effectively prosecuted and sanctioned.
“We demand respect for the rights of migrants and their security and request that the victims of this human indignity be effectively assisted with rehabilitation. Importantly, we ask that the international community commit more genuinely to an effective and inclusive process that will engender political stability and security in Libya and elsewhere threatened by destabilization and lawlessness that provide room for heinous acts such as these.
“We also call on the international community to use the opportunity of the on-going United Nations’ Global Compact on Migration (GCM) process to ensure that acts such as these are effectively reined in and that the human rights of migrants and refugees are guaranteed and secured at all times and in all places.
In a related development the African Regional Organisation of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-Africa) expresses its deep regrets on the recent drowning at sea of 23 Nigerian girls.
The group said this incident follows similar developments that continue to mirror the global migration crisis, adding that Speculation are rife that these girls were victims of human traffickers attempting to take them into prostitution and sex slavery in Europe.
“This is part of the continuing narrative that women and girls represent a sizable part of an alarming number of persons being smuggled and trafficked by gang patrons and matrons who use deception and coercion to lure and force many unsuspecting families and persons into desperate migration journeys.
“Hardship and misery of course contribute to make such persons susceptible and easy targets for these criminals. ITUC-Africa calls on the African Union (AU) to work with the Italian authorities to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of these girls.
“We equally demand that persons or groups linked to and involved in the circumstances surrounding these needless deaths should be prosecuted and effectively punished. We owe this to natural justice and to the memory of the girls.
“We invite the African Union to use the opportunity of the forthcoming AU–EU Summit at the end of November in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire to agree a practical programme on anti-human trafficking with their European counterparts.
” ITUC-Africa commits to work for the development of policies and implementation of measures that contribute to better livelihoods for our people and reduces the vulnerability and susceptibility of African households to human trafficking and desperate migration journeys. We commit also to work for better management of migration across Africa and the rest of the globe”.

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