The Organs Of African Migrants Are Cut Off By Traffickers Organ Merchants In Libya [Report Says]
January 05, 2021 2775
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The business of organ harvesting and human trafficking has
been one that has been gaining momentum in the last few years. With multiple
reports from all corners of the world, it has become more imperative for
governments and organizations to act fast in stopping the activities of those
who deal in the organs of other humans, which are forcefully removed from the
bodies of the victims.
In recent years, Libya has been renowned for its renewed
slavery and human trafficking of Black Africans, and many others from other
parts of the world. Migrants who desperately want to cross into Europe through
Libya, end up in the hands of these smugglers and human traffickers who use
them for all manner of atrocities driven by financial gains and hate.
An investigation by CNN into Libya's slave trade market made
the rounds and raised concerns about the fate of the hundreds of thousands of
Africans who end up in Libya in search for a voyage to Europe. The most recent
addition to the news coming out of Libya is that the traffickers are now in the
business of illegal sale of human organs, and that they encourage a "red
market" which is lucrative because of the promise of getting to Europe
which the migrants are given.
This latest report on human organ sale was made public by a
Ghanaian lawyer named Bobby Banson. In an interview with TV3's New Day, he
explained that he watched a couple of videos that featured interviews with
Africans who ended up as slaves in Libya, and how one of them revealed that
body parts of many others in captivity were being harvested.
According to Ghana Web, Banson said that "One of the
persons I heard, said the truth is that they are not sold to go and work, but
their human parts are harvested... kidney, liver are in high demand in these
areas... They are put on some [drugs] and their parts are harvested and resold.
So that is actually what is happening, and that is a crime against
humanity."
Banson, in his interview, called on the AU to institute an
ad-hoc court to look into the situation and find a solution to it.
We do hope that the calls by Banson and many other people,
governments and organization will not meet a brick wall, since issues like this
are often handles with kid gloves (with much unnecessary diplomatic tea
drinking and picture taking), just the way we see African leaders handle other
pressing issues that concern the poor and dying masses.
The African Union in the same vein has also demanded that
the smugglers and save masters in Libya be apprehended, stopped and brought to
justice. The AU also called on the Libyan government to protect the migrants
who are often helpless in a foreign land.
The Libyan Deputy Prime Minister, Ahmed Metig that his government which is backed by the United Nations would do their due diligence
in investigating the allegations and facts labeled against Libyans. His
promise comes on the back-drop of the statement and condemnation from the
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who said that "these
most egregious abuses of human rights" must be stopped immediately."
The world would not have known what was going on with
migrants in Libya if not for an investigative discovery by CNN, where they
uncovered the auction and sale of African migrants as low as $400 (300
Euros). The documentary and investigation opened up the atrocities that were
done by the Libyan slave sellers, who were always in supply of desperate
migrants who wanted nothing else but to cross the Mediterranean Sea into
Europe.
Reports from Interpol strongly suggests that some
well-placed African diplomats and politicians might be involved in the inhuman
business of human trafficking and organ harvesting, to be sold to organ dealers
on the "red market."
There is a high likelihood that the organ business in Africa
would be carried out by a cartel comprised of officials from various social
and government organizations. The French police report that a single human
lung is prized between $10,000 and $20,000, and that this is enough incentive
for those who go into the business. Some of the migrants are sometimes offered
assistance in entering other countries from those who have the intentions of
selling them and their organs.
An intelligent officer in Nigeria, who was privy to the
report explained in an interview that "It is a very lucrative trade that
involves not only kidneys."
The Director-General of NAPTIP (National Agency for The
Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, has said that the agency is making
adequate plans to go into a robust investigation that would pin-point and
identify those who are involved in human trafficking in Nigeria.
The Director-General, Dame Julie Okah Donli, said that "In
recent months we have raised the issue of illegal harvesting of organs as a new
dimension in human trafficking. Organ harvesting has been tied to human
trafficking and has become a booming business in the 21st C on a global
scale... Some victims are informed that their organs will be taken for a fee
and they will also be taken care of, but as soon as the organs are taken, the
victims are sutured back and the money promised not given, while the victim is
left to die if they decide to take every organ."
This is the 21st century, and while the world tries to heal
from the many atrocities perpetrated by humans on their fellow humans, more
vicious crimes are committed.
The rise in the need for organs in the "red
market" of the world has increased the need for human traffickers and
organ dealers to illegally and forcefully take organs of migrants who are
searching for a better life.
Although, while we blame the governments of Africa for not
doing enough to provide for its citizens, we must also blame the migrants
themselves who are sold the lie that Europe is heaven, and that once they cross
from Libya into Europe, they would get rich.
Africans should know that the European countries are now on
high alert and that assimilation into these countries is difficult. There are
jobless people in those European nations. So, what makes you feel you can just
walk in and get a job easily? The truth is that the journey to Europe on foot
is a hazardous one that Africans should never consider.
The risks are just too numerous. Imagine leaving your home intact, only to arrive in Europe with one kidney, or liver, or even end up dead and buried without your family knowing your whereabouts.