Ghanaian migrants from Libya need 'psychological' help - RTI Ghana

Real Talk Initiative Ghana, a non-governmental organisation, have suggested that a more detailed ‘psychological’ approach is needed to reintegrate the over 127 Ghanaians who recently returned home from detention camps in Libya.

“As gruesome as the images put out on social media described the state of these migrants, the psychological reinstatement of the 127 persons cannot be overlooked. Real Talk Initiative Ghana considers it prudent that, authorities deploy psychological experts to assist in reorienting these 127 migrants beyond the physical aid given to this group of people,” they added.

After CNN reported on an alleged slave market in Libya, there were series of campaigns and protests that pushed African leaders to act. Pictures of migrants tied up, beaten and piled in cells accompanied these media reports making the news harder to bear, while some migrants are also seen in a viral video being auctioned for as low as four hundred US dollars in Libya.

Persons purportedly engaged in these illicit slave trade were seen in the video beating some migrants with thick bars of wood, hard pipes, stabbing them repeatedly with sharp objects till they bleed out amongst other inhumane acts.

These disturbing imageries provoked global outrage which pushed some countries who had nationals in Libya to immediately act in taking back home.

In the wake of the ongoing deliberations and interventions to end the reported ‘slave trade market’ thriving in Libya, the group in a release recommended that in order to help the ‘traumatized’ victims of the widely condemned activities easily integrate back into society.

“Real Talk Initiative Ghana wishes to emphasize and draw the attention of these respective authorities on the urgent need to address the aftermath of the unfortunate incidents ‘psychologically’ for the purposes of better reforming and integrating these 127 migrants into the society,” statement read.

The group said some of the migrants are likely to be suffering from ‘mental damage’ after going through some of the gruesome maltreatments recorded in the viral video and hence advised that psychologists are allocated to help these people beyond the physical aid they have already received.

“Finding ways to address their ordeal must be a priority to manage possible mental damage which could arise. This is effective in managing possible mental disfigurement on their total psychological development,” they noted.

Government last week facilitated the safe return of about 127 Ghanaians who hitherto were subjected to brutal treatments in Libya.

One returnee told Citi News’ Caleb Kudah and Philip Nii Lartey that, “The food that they were giving us did not satisfy us. They use to beat us. The treatment is very bad.”

Country Director for International Organisation for Migration in Ghana, Sylvia Lopez also mentioned to Citi News that, “there is a substantial number of people and considering the situation in Libya at the moment; the difficult living conditions in the detention centres, we really are in a humanitarian crisis situation, and it is extremely important to get these people out of Libya as soon as possible. “

Libya, a nation in the North of Africa has been a passageway for most Africans into Europe.

Over the years thousands of migrants who try crossing the Mediterranean end up drowning or imprisoned by some authorities in Libya.