EU and Africa want to get victims of traffickers from Libya

According to reports by France's President Emmanuel Macron, a number of countries on the sidelines of the EU-Africa summit have decided to bring the victims of human traffickers out of the country, according to reports of slave trafficking in Libya

Given the inhumane conditions in Libyan refugee camps and allegations of the slave trade, a number of countries have decided at the EU-Africa Summit to remove the victims of human traffickers from the country. The "emergency evacuations" should take place in the "coming days or weeks," said French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday evening. In addition, the cooperation between police and intelligence services should be strengthened in order to act against traffickers.

At the EU-Africa summit on Wednesday, representatives of both sides were shocked by reports that refugees were being sold as slaves in Libya. The US television channel CNN had a video released in mid-November, which is to show an auction of migrants to North African buyers. Aid organizations have long been reporting on the ill-treatment, rape and forced labor of refugees in Libya.

Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara, host of the Abidjan summit on Wednesday, spoke of a "disgraceful" and "totally unacceptable situation". She recalled "the worst hours in human history".

According to Macron, representatives of the EU, the African Union (AU), the UN and several African and European countries, including Germany, attended an emergency meeting on the situation in Libya. Libya pledged to identify the camps that had "barbaric scenes". The Libyan government has pledged that there will be access to these camps.

The EU, the AU and the UN had already announced on Wednesday that they would strengthen their cooperation in the protection of refugees, especially in Libya. On the one hand, this should be achieved through the "accelerated" repatriation of migrants to their home countries on a voluntary basis, it said. Refugees in need of international protection should be transferred to safe havens through relocation.

It builds on return programs of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) with EU funding. About 13,000 refugees have voluntarily returned to their countries of origin since the beginning of the year.

Libya is the main transit country for refugees en route to Europe. According to the UN refugee agency UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) 137,000 people have already reached Italy and Spain via North Africa this year. Most came across Libya, where the central government has no (over far) control.