Report: European Union Accused Of Enabling Migrant Slave Trade In Africa(Summary)
Asylum seekers in Tunisia have been sold to Libyan traffickers for as little as $12, according to human rights groups
The report includes 30 testimonies from migrants who were expelled from Tunisia to Libya between June 2023 and November 2024, highlighting a salient feature which appears in their accounts: the sale of human beings at the border by Tunisian police and military apparatuses, as well as the interconnection between the infrastructure behind expulsions and the kidnapping industry in Libyan prisons.
In this sense, the report documents events and situations which in the social sciences and international law are classified as ‘state crimes’. Through the victims' accounts, the report explores the 5 stages of a logistical chain which have been integrated and refined, also as a result of the agreements between the EU and Tunisia:
1) the arrest of migrants;
2) their transportation to the Tunisian-Libyan border;
3) the role of the detention camps run by the Tunisian military corps;
4) the forced movement and sale of migrants to Libyan armed forces and militias;
5) the detention of migrants in Libyan prisons until a ransom is paid and their release.
Although their memories regarding details and spatio-temporal coordinates is made difficult by the traumatic and violent experiences to which they are associated, numerous testimonies have been checked through geolocation.
By identifying a detailed list of human rights violations occurring during expulsions and trafficking operations, this report aims to reopen the debate on the responsibilities of the EU and single member states in putting people on the move at risk of dying or being enslaved as well as on the status of ‘safe country’ attributed to Tunisia and its role as a partner in the management of the EU's external borders, with the financial benefits this involves. If we consider them from a legal perspective, the testimonies presented here highlight the following violations of international law:
1) Crimes against humanity;
2) Arbitrary detention;
3) Racial discrimination and incitement to racial hatred;
4) Collective refoulement;
5) Enslavement;
6) Enforced disappearance;
7) Torture and inhuman and degrading treatment;
8) Trafficking and gender-based violence.
The international research team that designed the methodological approach, collected the testimonies, and contributed to their analysis have decided to remain anonymous to protect their safety while continuing to carry out their research work.