CNN Libya freedom project

We are free. The world is free. Stop modern-day slavery! (Honestly, I didn't even know that was a thing).

I never thought I would start talking about news and politics but ever since the brexit thing, I've become equivalent to CNN and, well... here I am. Now, the CNN freedom project was an amazing, and brave thing to do. If the lady had been caught, I don't even know what would have happened.

What is the CNN freedom project, you must be thinking?

Well here is your answer...

video produced by CNN

Getting into Libya

If you still need enlightening, the CNN freedom project is a programme working against modern-slavery (which, as I said before, I didn't even know existed).

The second I saw this video, the first thought that floated into my mind was 'who needs humans to do their chores when there are robots and electronics such as a vacuum cleaners' and secondly, 'what are the rulers of these countries doing?' I mean, what kind of ruler/president watches their own residents venture away from their home country and risk their lives in hope of a better environment/life, when their old environment/life is still there? Do they not have any shame, any conscience, any... you know what I mean.

The journey alone is fraught with danger, (460 people have died or gone missing making the crossing. Did I forget to mention that the migrants are crossing the Mediterranean to get to Europe?) but there are other hazards for those trying to reach the Mediterranean through Libya.

Now we've got to the main part, Libya. But first, really? The Mediterranean? They crossed the Mediterranean?

In a series of reports, CNN has been highlighting the plight of migrants in Libya who have been abducted and tortured to extort a payment for their release, and even sold as slaves. Yet even with these dangers awaiting them, the UN Migration Agency (IOM) estimates there are up to 1 million migrants currently in Libya. So why would anyone risk so much, and what's it like to make the journey?

I'll tell you what it's like, it's must be like going through hell. But how will I know? I haven't been through it.

Their Dilemmas

In December 2017, CNN spent 11 days aboard a migrant rescue boat in the Mediterranean. Run by Spanish humanitarian organisation Proactiva, it picked up 695 migrants from 27 countries who had set sail from Libya and had run into problems at sea. CNN spoke with some of the migrants on board. Many spoke of abuse in Libya. Here's the exact words from a migrant on board...

Fekadu, 38, from Ethiopia

Fekadu is from the Oromia region of Ethiopia, an area that has seen anti-government protest against marginalisation of ethnic Oromos.

"The government now don't like Oromo people," he said. "There is no democracy. If there were democracy, I would be in Ethiopia."

He left Ethiopia in 2016, traveling first to South Sudan, then to Sudan and on to Chad. He says he was arrested at the border between Chad and Libya and imprisoned in Libya.

He managed to escape but later spent two months in an underground prison in Zawiya, where he says he was beaten and tortured. Sometimes, he says, his captors would pour melted plastic onto his body.

His family paid $800 for his release, he says.

"There is no police, there is no government. It's a big problem for Libya, and for Africa," he said.

Koné, 18, from Ivory Coast

The Libyans don't respect women, even pregnant women. They will beat, they will injure, they will even rape girls.

Kone is the oldest daughter in a farming family. She said that back home, her family were spending all their money sending her to a private school and she thought it would be better if she and her sister went to find work in Europe.

The two left Ivory Coast in June 2017, having paid a people smuggler $2,200 to get them to Europe. Kone says they travelled through Mali and Algeria before reaching Libya after almost three weeks on the road.

In Libya, they say they were imprisoned by bandits, beaten and barely fed, before their family sent $1,100 to pay for their release.

She says a friend of hers was raped in Libya, but made it back to the Ivory Coast.

Now Kone plans to work in Europe as a beautician, but says she has no friends or contacts there.

Wisdom, 41, from Nigeria

They are doing bad things, they are kidnapping people, they are selling people like fish, they are marketing people like clothes

Wisdom spent four years and three months in Libya in all. He found paying work in the country, but says he was also captured and made to pay for his release. He had tried to reach Italy twice before.

On his last attempt his boat was intercepted by the Libyan coastguard. He says they beat him and other migrants and told them they must pay $2,000 to be released. He says those who couldn't pay were detained, tortured or passed on to criminal gangs.

Other migrants on board the rescue boat said the Libyan coast guard had been complicit in their abuse.

The UN Security Council has found the Libyan coast guard to be "directly involved in such grave human rights violations against migrants."

But the commander of the Libyan coast guard says that all allegations against them are false.

In a telephone conversation with CNN, Abu Ajala Amer Abdel-Bari said: "We save people from the water and we turn them into official places under the Libyan Interior Ministry, who all work with recognised organisations like the IOM."

Libya has announced measures to tackle the abuse of migrants in the country. Last year, Libya's Ministry of Foreign Affairs established a committee to investigate the auctions of migrants and Libya's Interior Minister, Al-Aref Al-Khouja, said he had launched an investigation into human rights abuses against migrants in detention.

"We will not be complacent with those who violate these rules and principles of humanitarian treatment, whether it's with our own citizens, or any foreigners, and this is a global humanitarian demand which people will not accept anything less than," Al-Khouja said in a news conference

While there are many proposals to better protect migrants, powerful reasons still exist for people to their leave homes in hope of a better life. That means it's likely many migrants will still be willing to risk the journey, no matter the danger.

The interview

...and here's an interview CNN has just shown about a journalist that has been bound and beaten in Libya...

video produced by CNN

My thoughts and feelings

Honestly, I don't know how I feel about this madness. I am ashamed by how the human race is treating our fellow humans, and how, even in the 21st century, they have seemed to have underdeveloped. I mean, slavery! Slavery! Out of all the things to take from the past, it was slavery! Anyway, all I can say is that 'you reap just what you sew', which is a phrase meaning that there's always a consequence.

Disclaimer, most of this information is from CNN, if you want to learn more, go there.