Inside Libya’s Migrant Slave Auctions

The Takeaway | Nov 21, 2017

Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear this segment. 

For years, migrants and refugees from Africa and the Middle East have attempted to make the perilous journey through Libya and across the Mediterranean Sea in hopes of eventually reaching countries in Europe.

This year, the journey appears to have become even more treacherous, with reports by the International Organization for Migration and CNN of migrants being traded in modern day “slave markets” in Libya.

A team from CNN, including Senior International Correspondent Nima Elbagir recently traveled to Libya to investigate the country’s slave auctions and secretly filmed a dozen migrants from Niger being sold for farm work.

Elbagir, who described the auction as “one of the most unbelievable things” she had ever seen, explains what she witnessed and how the smugglers’ slave trade operates. In the wake of CNN’s reporting, Libyan authorities have begun their own probe into the country’s slave practices.

This segment is hosted by Todd Zwillich

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