TRIPOLI, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) Wednesday condemned slave trade of African migrants in western Libya.
A recent CNN report showed auctions in different parts of Libya, where stranded African migrants were sold as slaves for as little as 400 U.S. dollars.
"The United Nations in Libya, dismayed and sickened by the recent video footage of African migrants being sold as "goods" in the country, is actively pursuing the matter with the Libyan authorities to set up transparent monitoring mechanism that safeguards migrants against horrific human rights abuses," the Mission said in a statement.
"This new footage, if confirmed, compounds the already unimaginable and inhumane horrors endured by migrants in Libya including, but not restricted to, human trafficking, forced labour, unlawful killings; sexual abuse of men, women and children, arbitrary detentions, all carried out in a system with no accountability or due process," the statement added.
"We cannot be a silent witness to modern day slavery, rape, forced labour and killings," Said Ghassan Salame, head of the UN Mission said, calling on the Libyan government to "address comprehensively this outrage to the conscience of humanity. The international community cannot continue to turn a blind eye as this already dire situation."
Libya's eastern-based House of Representatives (Parliament) Speaker, Agila Saleh, on Tuesday condemned slave trade in western Libya, ordering investigation into the incident.
The Tripoli-based Government of National Accord of Libya also condemned migrant slave trade in the country and confirmed opening an investigation into the incident.
