EU complicit in Tunisian sale of migrants to Libyan gangs
The EU has been accused of complicity in the sale of Sub-Saharan migrants in Tunisia to Libyan gangs for as low as £10.
According to GB News on January 30th,the investigation conducted by humanitarian groups, revealed an operation where migrants are detained by Tunisian authorities, taken across the border and then sold.
Researchers described the findings as a “horrific logistical chain of abuse and exploitation” this chain is enabled by agreements set up between the EU and Tunisia.
Female migrants are typically sold for higher prices at up to £75 each ,as they are sold into sex slavery: “They sold us to the Libyans. I really mean buying and selling, like for objects, they sold us like slaves,” one migrant stated.
Another migrant said: “We saw the money ,they count it in front of you. Women cost more, because in Libya women are considered sex objects.”
The report, entitled “State Trafficking: Expulsion and Sale of Migrants from Tunisia to Libya”, sets out how Tunisian police and the Libyan military refer to the detained migrants as “black gold”.
One of the most infamous detention camps is known as “the cage”, which consists of a cramped, fenced in desert area, underneath pylons.
“They took us close to the Libyan border. That’s where all the hatred in the world was unleashed. They beat us, they gave us electric shocks,” said a Cameroonian migrant
Italy is accused of being the main enabler of these atrocities, spending almost £62.8million in 8 years on training and equipping the corrupt Tunisian border guards. This is not the first time Meloni has worked closely with Tunisia, according to Maghrebi she visited the country to discuss their respective stances on the issue in June 2023.
This has led to a 59% reduction in migrants crossing from Northern Africa to Italy , a statistic hailed as a triumph by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
GB News, The Telegraph, Maghrebi
