Staff Reporter
Windhoek-The Government of the Republic of Namibia has learned with utter shock and dismay, from media reports, about the abhorrent and despicable phenomena of slave auctions being masterminded by certain moral-less groups and individuals in Libya.
“We resolutely condemn these degrading and inhumane practices. In the ‘Africa We Want,’ there should be no place of any form of slavery, including modern slavery,” stated the Permanent Secretary for International Relations and Cooperation, Selma Ashipala-Musavyi.
The Government of the Republic of Namibia welcomes the Libyan authorities’ strong condemnation of these inhumane practices, and the undertaking that “Libya will take the necessary measures against those involved and provide the necessary cooperation to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and trust that the high authorities of Libya will do everything possible to arrest this new dreaded phenomena, and bring all those directly and indirectly involved to justice,” said Ashipala-Musavyi.
In this connection, the Government of the Republic of Namibia recalls the international community’s commitments contained in the Political Declaration of the “High-Level Meeting on the Large Movement of Refugees and Migrants,” which took place on September 19, 2016 in New York.
“The declaration serves as a rallying call by member states to, amongst others, increase efforts in assisting migrants and refugees, address the root causes of irregular migration and enhance responsibility-sharing between countries of origin and receiving countries,” said the P.S.
The Namibian government supports the efforts of the chairperson of the AU Commission who has dispatched the AU commissioner for social affairs to engage in discussions with the Libyan government and other stakeholders to find out what is happening in Libya – and to propose the most practical measures aimed at improving the plight of African migrants in that country.
Explosive footage released by CNN shows men being sold at an auction in Libya.
The footage shows an auctioneer standing in front of a group of young men, shouting: “Big strong boys for farm work. 400? 700? 800?”
CNN travelled to Libya to verify the authenticity of the footage. There, they secretly filmed an auction outside the Libyan capital Tripoli.
Referred to as “merchandise”, the men sold into slavery were migrants and refugees. Twelve Nigerian men were sold at the auction.
“Does anybody need a digger? This is a digger, a big strong man, he’ll dig,” one salesman said.
“Within minutes it is all over and the men, utterly resigned to their fate, are being handed over to their new ‘masters’,” CNN reported.