[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Pages 20323-20324]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           LIBYAN SLAVE TRADE

  Ms. DUCKWORTH. Mr. President, I rise today to bring to this body's 
attention and to the attention of all Americans what can best be 
characterized as a modern-day slave trade. It is an outrage that is 
hard to fathom but that still exists today.
  I was recently speaking to a group of pastors from my home State of 
Illinois who do wonderful work advocating on behalf of human rights and 
human dignity. One of them, Rev. Walter Johnson of the Greater 
Institutional Church in Chicago, shared his frustration that abuses and 
atrocities being inflicted upon migrants and refugees in Libya have 
received not nearly enough attention or outrage in the American public, 
government, or in the press. I couldn't agree more. That is why I have 
come to the Senate floor today to speak on this alarming human rights 
crisis.
  Every American should be appalled by chilling images of modern-day 
slave auctions. Earlier this month in an investigative piece, CNN 
released video of an auction taking place. It was not an auction for a 
piece of art or another item one might bid on but an auction for human 
beings--human beings sold for the equivalent of $400.
  The reports were a wake-up call for the world about the gravity of 
this situation in North Africa as migrants fleeing danger and economic 
hardship face new horrors on their journey to seek a better future. The 
wars in the Middle East and instability in North Africa have upended 
huge swaths of the region, displacing thousands of vulnerable men, 
women, and children. Thousands of people fleeing Africa and the Middle 
East make their way through Libya, hoping to cross the Mediterranean. 
Unfortunately, many of them face horrifying human rights abuses and 
danger along the way.
  Because of Libya's limited capacity to govern, its restrictive 
policies against migrants, and its inability or refusal to accommodate 
the migrants, conditions are ripe for exploitation and abuse in their 
detention centers. Particularly horrifying have been reports from 
survivors about the exploitation at the hands of smugglers who are 
openly engaging in human slavery, preying on the most vulnerable, who 
have surrendered everything for a shot at the future. Migrants have 
been subjected to horrible human rights abuses in Libya over the past 
few years, including forced labor, torture, and sexual violence.
  The administration must put this issue front and center when we 
engage with Libyan officials and demand accountability and progress. 
Sadly, it appears the administration missed such an opportunity to 
address this issue during Prime Minister Fayiz al-Saraj's visit to 
Washington earlier this month.
  The United Nations-backed Government of National Accord in Tripoli, 
however, has taken an important step in acknowledging these abuses and 
is requesting international support. The European Union and African 
Union evacuation plan to repatriate the detained migrants that was 
agreed upon in the Ivory Coast is a move in the right direction.
  In 2016, the United States provided emergency funding for the 
International Organization for Migration--the IOM--to help shut down 
migrant detentions centers in Libya. While the EU rightly picked up the 
majority of funding to repatriate migrants, the United States should 
once again consider another emergency infusion to the IOM to help 
accelerate the closure of these facilities in addition to the $31 
million in foreign operations funding

[[Page 20324]]

for Libya that the administration requested this year.
  Additionally, we have a former American Ambassador, William Lacy 
Swing, who is the Director General of the International Organization 
for Migration. He is on the frontlines of this fight and stands ready 
to work with Libyan authorities, the European Union, and African Union 
countries so that he can help address this crisis. The United States 
can play an important role in supporting Director General Swing and 
other international efforts to protect these migrants from exploitation 
and abuse.
  Human rights are essential to the functioning and well-being of our 
global community, and that community is threatened when migrants 
fleeing persecution are forced into inhumane, exploitative conditions 
and slavery. Given this country's own dark history with slavery, we 
cannot afford to remain silent in the face of such suffering. We must 
stand together with the help of the United Nations and other 
international partners to eradicate slavery and the conditions that 
precipitate it.
  Thank you.
  I yield back.

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