Private legal practitioner, Rainer Akumperigya, wants the United Nations (UN) to constitute a commission to investigate reports of slave auctions in Libya.
About two weeks ago, footages from CNN of youth from Sub-saharan Africa being sold at slave markets in Libya went viral, attracting International criticism.
The heartbreaking images also showed some migrants being tortured to death by individuals in Libyan military wears.
There has been a wave of condemnations across Africa, especially due to the silence of the continent’s leaders and groups like the AU and ECOWAS over the incident.
Speaking on Citi FM’s News analysis and current affairs programme, The Big Issue, Rainer Akumperigya said, it was essential for an external body, such as the UN , to establish the facts and ensure sanctions against individuals and entities behind the inhumane act.
“The UN might have to investigate this, set up a commission, because in the absence of the organized system within Libya, we might have to resort international laws, but the fact must be known first”he said.
The Libyan government is reported to have said it did not have an organized system to investigate the issue.
“When the facts started emerging, I read one of the reactions from a media house in Libya, trying to whitewash it and to say that this was a cooked up story and that CNN had faked it,” he said.
The Lawyer thus believes if an external investigative body is involved, it will be able to investigate properly to clear our conscience as to whether this was an attack based on ethnicity or race.
“If we have an external investigative body establish the facts and know the extent to which the crime has been committed, we may be looking at ethnic profiling here. If you look at the video and the pictures, it was basically black Africans, so was this a more target race issue”? he asked.
127 Ghanaians repatriated
Some 127 Ghanaians were last week rescued from Libya after reports that these Ghanaians and some other black Africans were reported to have been subjected to inhumane treatment after giving away their life’s earnings and making torturous journeys through the Sahara hoping to make it big in Europe.
Group petitions AU to investigate ‘slave trade’ in Libya
In a related development, a civil society group known as “The Future Group,” has petitioned the African Union (AU), to investigate reports of a supposed modern day slave trade in Libya.
The group said the reports are “heart wrecking” and are “very serious crimes against humanity” hence AU must take up the issue.
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By: Farida Yusif/citifmonline.com/Ghana