When I hear or read about slave trade,I am reminded of history  because before now that was all slave trade meant to me, “history”.

I remember slave trade historical sites around Nigeria,with statues showing the Journey slaves passed through. The first time I visited one in Badagry the thoughts that rang through my mind were: this was what made us stronger as a people and as Africans the trials we faced have made us one of the strongest people in the world. Now hearing about Libya slave trade rings a bell! Is history coming back to us just the same way our fore fathers exchanged us for mirrors, spears, shields e.t.c ? Now its our own brothers selling us and for what? as low as $400; its totally inhuman and painful.
It is simply best described as ” Man’s inhumanity to Man”. For a clearer understanding I will define some terms that will serve as basis of writing this article.

Inhumanity:
This is simpy an extremely cruel and brutal behaviour.

Slave Trade:
The procuring, transporting, and selling of human beings as slaves, in particular the former trade in black Africans as slaves European countries and North America.

Slave Trade In Libya!.
Within the last several days, Libya has been cast into the spotlight after footage of an apparent slave auction was released online CNN which was recorded with a hidden camera phone, as part of an exclusive report “People for sale” published earlier this month.

“Libya is the main transit point for refugees and migrants trying to reach Europe sea. In each of the last three years, 150000 people have made the dangerous crossing across the Mediterranean Sea from Libya. For four years in a row, 3,000 refugees have died while attempting the journey. This is according to figures from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the U.N’s migration agency.

The Libyan Coast Guard — supported with funds and resources from the E.U. and more specifically, Italy — has cracked down on boats smuggling refugees and migrants to Europe. With estimates of 400,000 to almost one million people now bottled up Libya, detention centers are overrun and there are mounting reports of societal evils like robbery, rape, and murder among migrants, according to a September report 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.”

“With the security and financial collapse in Libya, human trafficking and smuggling have become a booming trade,” says Mahmoud Abdelwahed, reporting from a detention centre in the Libyan capital Tripoli.

Modern-day slavery is widespread around the world and Libya is no means unique … But what’s particularly shocking is that this is happening effectively in the open where people can go to a farmhouse, place a bid and end up ‘owing’ a human being.
There is no proper registration process for the tens of thousands of refugees arriving Libya.

According to reports, the business of detention centres is unsupervised in some parts of Libya and stories of torture, rape and forced labour have emerged.

When the centres get too crowded, people are then allegedly sold off like goods in an open market. Survivors have told the UN’s migration agency that they use smartphones to connect with people smugglers to get them to Libya’s coast and that they were then sold, being held for ransom, used as forced labour or for sexual exploitation.

The International Organization for Migration says trade in humans has become so normalised that people are being bought and sold in public for as little as $400.

“As shocking as it seems, it’s indeed true,” Leonard Doyle from the International Organization for Migration tells, Counting the Cost.

“The reason it [slave trade] can happen is because there is really no rule of law across much of Libya. Libya is a country as big as France, with a lot of space there.

“Migrants are coming there , they see the promise of a new life when they go to their Facebook feed and they think something wonderful is waiting for them in Europe, because a smuggler has abused the system and has sold them that lie.”

He explains that when they arrive in Libya, “they get off the bus and they are quickly put into a kind of murder machine, an extortion machine. They are robbed of their possessions, their families are called.

They are forced, tortured, they give them money. And then they are sold. Unbelievable, but they are sold in open, public auctions: $400 for a labouring man, maybe a bit more for a woman who can be put in the sex trade. And this is what’s happening across the country.”

Doyle stresses that this issue shows that the international community should pay more attention to post-Gaddafi Libya.

“There is an international responsibility to her. What is particularly important now is that this issue is reaching global attention,” says Doyle.

“Modern-day slavery is widespread around the world and Libya is no means unique. It’s happening in the developed countries of the world as well as the undeveloped countries.

“ But what’s particularly shocking is that this is happening effectively in the open, where people can go to a farmhouse, place a bid and end up ‘owning’ a human being.

Man’s Inhumanity.
The shocking aspect of everything is that ,Slaves are Humans sold humans to humans and this looks to me like a circle of inhumanity. These slaves are sold to smugglers who eventually take them to Europe as Labourers ,sex workers e.t.c.They are locked ,chained and brutalised ,they are left hungry for days , According to returnees,there were times they had to survive on their urine and fuel. This is terrible!

Conclusively, there is no price tag on any human. The worth of a human being cannot be estimated. Say no to slave trade. Black is not for sale,we have made our history. we do not want it coming back to us now… Its inhuman to sell your fellow being.
written by: Faith Hauwa Adama


Profile of the writer:
Name: Faith Hauwa Adama
State of Origin: Niger State
Tribe: Nupe.

writer:Faith Hauwa Adama

She is a blogger{visit her blog: www.faithadama.com}.
 She is a journalist,VJ(Video Jockey), humanitarian,inspirational speaker and OAP
She love writing, interacting with like minds and learning from them.
Her  meal is anything delicious.
Meet her on Fb:Faithy Hauer Adama


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