EU 'complicit' in sale of sub-Saharan migrants to Libyan gangs for £10, damning report claims
WATCH: Nigel Farage reacts to Giorgia Meloni's Rwanda-style plan
GB NEWS
The EU is "complicit" in the sale of Sub-Saharan migrants in Tunisia to Libyan gangs for as little as £10 per person, according to a damning new report.
The investigation, conducted by several humanitarian groups, reveals a systematic operation where migrants are rounded up by Tunisian authorities before being transported across the border and sold.
The findings expose what researchers describe as a "horrific logistical chain of abuse and exploitation" which has been enabled by agreements between the EU and Tunisia.
Women fetch higher prices - up to £75 each - as they are reportedly sold into sex slavery.
Tunisian police and Libyan militia refer to captured migrants as 'black gold', echoing the transatlantic slave trade
REUTERS
"They sold us to the Libyans. I really mean buying and selling, like for objects, they sold us like slaves," one migrant told researchers.
While a 25-year-old Cameroonian 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, titled "State Trafficking: Expulsion and Sale of Migrants from Tunisia to Libya", documents how Tunisian police and Libyan militia refer to captured migrants as "black gold", echoing the transatlantic slave trade.
"It's a business they have with the Libyans. It's about selling human beings, trafficking n*****s. It's shameful," testified another Cameroonian migrant, aged 26.
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'European governments are complicit in the violence and torture inflicted on tens of thousands of refugees,' one migrant claimed
REUTERS
While one 30-year-old Cameroonian said: "Prison in Libya is hell, it's hell. The water to drink is salty. There are no toilets. You eat in the same place where you s**t."
The most notorious detention camp, known as "the cage", is reportedly a cramped, fenced area beneath a tall pylon in the desert.
"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 28-year-old from Cameroon.
A 25-year-old Guinean testified: "They took us to Al Assah, to a prison. They beat you with Kalashnikovs, they break all your body parts."
Italy has spent almost £62.8million since 2017 on training and equipping Tunisian border guards
REUTERS
The report claims the EU and Italy have enabled the human rights violations through agreements with Tunisia.
Italy has led on that front, having spent almost £62.8million since 2017 on training and equipping Tunisian border guards.
The crackdown has resulted in a 59 per cent reduction in migrants crossing from North Africa to Italy - which has been hailed as a triumph by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
"European governments are complicit in the violence and torture inflicted on tens of thousands of refugees and migrants in Tunisia," said a 29-year-old Guinean migrant.
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