Racist Abuse : A Terrible Reality

"It's a brutal, terrible reality, but young people need to know the risks before deciding to go."
"Bottom line: This proves how essential it is that migrant and refugee children have access to safe and legal migration pathways."
Christopher Tidey, UNICEF spokesman

Sub-Saharan migrants and refugees begging for their release in a detention center in Surman, Libya. Narciso Contreras for Fondation Carmignac

"I've seen very widespread racism and xenophobia in Libya."  
"Dark skinned people in general face discrimination. If you're a Syrian Arab who speaks the language, you're definitely better off."
Hanan Salah, senior Libya researcher, Human Rights Watch.

"It's a kind of slavery. It is something from the past."
"Since 2011, the Libyan economy has been in freefall. There is no money in the banks, public sector workers go unpaid and the black market is booming. People fetch a high price."
"I came to Libya to document the migrant crisis, the humanitarian crisis of migrants trying to reach Europe through Libyan territory. But actually what I found going in Libya is a market."
Narciso Contreras, photojournalist

Women refugees and migrants queue in the prison yard as they are loaded onto buses to be transferred to another detention centre. Narciso Contreras for Fondation Carmignac

Muslims have created a word with which to besmirch any non-Muslims who criticize any aspect of Islam, the Koran, the Prophet Mohammad, the behaviour of Islamic groups, and that word is one they like to equate with racism: "Islamophobia". As though a vast public outside the world of Islam must forbear for questioning whether Islam is indeed a religion of peace in light of the sectarian conflict that has distinguished Arab and Muslim societies with their viral tribal animosities toward one another.

Yet alone the matter of jihadist groups and individuals dedicating themselves to the martyrdom suicide missions of obliterating the lives of non-believers in Islam, in compliance with the sacred texts themselves. Not to take notice, not to view Islam with alarm and foreboding given all these experiences would require a deliberate effort to overlook the carnage and the atrocities committed in the name of Islam, cleansing the world of those refusing to submit to Islam.

The Koran and the Hadiths do instruct the faithful to look upon other Muslims as brothers, to extend to them the care and consideration owing to brethren of the faith. Charity among Muslims is stressed as an obligation. But those of the faith who are swift to define criticism of Islam as "racist" in origin, the epitome of bigotry, somehow fail to recognize that they themselves are exemplars of true racism, not those whom they accuse of such for questioning Islam.

The Arab leaders of Sudan, as an example, set out to slaughter, mass rape, drive from the land, Black Darfurians for daring to expect equal treatment as Sudanese when a protest arose over Arab herders driving their animals onto Black farmers' agricultural farmlands, destroying their livelihoods. The Arab Janjaweed were swift to join the Sudanese military gunning down Darfurians with helicopter gunships, mass-raping women, and creating a mass movement of refugees.

In Libya, a North African country fractured by the West's intervention in aiding Arab tribal insurrections against Moammar Ghaddafi the long-term strongman of Libya, chaos reigns now with two opposing governments and the presence of armed militias representing tribal interests, where migrants from across Africa have been migrating to Libya in hopes of securing passage on unseaworthy smugglers' vessels to hazard a journey toward Italy or Greece.

While in Libya they are subjected to dreadful persecution, though they pride themselves as Muslim just like those who view their dark skins with contempt, refusing to allow the Black Muslims to pray alongside the Arab Muslims. "They think they're better than us. They say we're created different from them", said a despairing 18-year-old from Ghana, Kalilu Drammeh, hoping eventually to make his way through to Europe.

Tens of thousands of Sub-Saharan Africans continue to make their way through to Libya where they depend on smugglers for help in crossing the Mediterranean. The smuggling fees, thousands of dollars, require migrants to work to raise the needed funds to be spirited away to Europe. Harsh conditions and abuse await them in lawless, violent Libya where over 132,000 migrants made the crossing this year, with over 2,300 drowning in the attempt.

North Africans have a fairly low opinion of sub-Saharan Africans, and always have. UNICEF and the International Organization for Migration speaks of the latter as the most vulnerable of all migrants, because they are black, facing viral discrimination. And those, according to the report who face the  highest risk of exploitation and abuse are those travelling alone, those who are poorly educated and children of any age group of the migrants enduring arduous and long journeys to get to Libya.

Migrants and refugees numbering in the tens of thousands between the ages of 14 to 24 were interviewed and the conclusion was reached that Libyan smugglers abuse the sub-Saharan migrants far more harshly than is the experience of other migrants, and they are in the greatest danger. The report issued by UNICEF stated: "They contend with pervasive lawlessness and violence and are often detained by state  authorities and others".

Women are forced to work as prostitutes in the hope of being able to save money for their seaborne trip, while men are beaten and sometimes shot by smugglers. Some of the migrants are locked up and forced to call relatives for ransoms to effect their release by traffickers. When the migrants do manage to find work from Libyan Arabs they are paid less, reflecting the colour of their skin. Racism and extreme prejudice aligned with maltreatment at the hands of those who espouse the religion of peace.

Bottom line: charities should use their fine auspices to go to the source of the migration epidemic to persuade potential migrants that their futures lie in their countries of origin. That remaining there and becoming politically active to effect social changes and rid themselves of the tribal and clan leaders who oppress the people should be their goal, not leaving home and embarking on a perilous overland journey to risk their lives at sea to reach a continent that has far too places for them.

At the very least, if immigration is their intention, to use legal immigration means to achieve their goal. Time-consuming yes, but undertaking the legal process rather than the dangerous illegal migration they commit to, is safe and if they qualify to be accepted, they will have done so without placing their lives and their futures in jeopardy.

What remains of a rubber boat floats in the Mediterranean Sea after having been set ablaze.
Narciso Contreras for Fondation Carmignac