There are an estimated 520,000 experiencing modern slavery and human trafficking in the Arab States (GSI 2018). The Arab States are made up of 11 countries including Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. The region is diverse, spanning the wealthier Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC countries) and countries such as Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq, which are dealing with the impact of ongoing conflict in Syria. When considering the forms of modern slavery, the largest share of those in modern slavery were victims of forced labour (2.2 victims per 1,000 people), while the rate of forced marriage was 1.1 victims per 1,000 people. Over half of those in forced labour were held in debt bondage, with this form of trafficking affecting women at a greater share than men. Men and Women - primarily from South and South East Asia and Africa - voluntarily migrate to Arab States for work in a number of sectors, including construction and domestic service. Upon arrival they experience withholding of payment, debt bondage and abuse. Nia was not making enough money to take care of her children when a friend’s sister offered her a housekeeping job in Saudi Arabia. While initially she was treated well, after a few months Nia was subjected to physical abuse and withholding of pay. Nia was able to escape this situation after six months and return to Kenya. However, Nia still needed to provide for her children and travelled abroad for work two more times to Qatar and Libya, both time being mistreated and unpaid. Nia finally received assistance from HAART Kenya and set up her own salon in Kenya which was going well, until the COVID-19 pandemic left her unable to run her business. Nia is now receiving temporary financial support from HAART Kenya.

There is an estimated 48,000 people living in modern slavery in Libya (GSI 2018). Libya is a major transit destination for migrants and refugees hoping to reach Europe by sea. Human trafficking networks have prospered amid lawlessness, created by the warring militias that have been fighting for control of territories since the toppling of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Highly organized trafficking and migrants smuggling networks that reach into Libya from Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, and other sub-Saharan states subject migrants to forced labour and forced prostitution through fraudulent recruitment, confiscation of identity and travel documents, withholding or non-payment of wages, debt bondage, and verbal, physical, and sexual abuse. In some cases, migrants reportedly pay smuggling fees to reach Tripoli, but once they cross the Libyan border they are sometimes abandoned in southern cities or the desert where they are susceptible to severe forms of abuse and human trafficking.  For the past five months, Yonathan has been held inside a container illegally in the town of Gharyan, 91km from the capital, Tripoli. Yonathan was a soldier before deserting and fleeing Eritrea in December 2016. He had arranged for Sudanese smugglers to take him to Libya - and the journey became more hazardous and expensive than he had ever imagined. After he crossed the border into Sudan, the smugglers demanded more money than agreed to take him to Khartoum. He had to call home and scramble for money.

There is an estimated 48,000 people living in modern slavery in Libya (GSI 2018). Libya is a major transit destination for migrants and refugees hoping to reach Europe by sea. Human trafficking networks have prospered amid lawlessness, created by the warring militias that have been fighting for control of territories since the toppling of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Highly organized trafficking and migrants smuggling networks that reach into Libya from Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, and other sub-Saharan states subject migrants to forced labour and forced prostitution through fraudulent recruitment, confiscation of identity and travel documents, withholding or non-payment of wages, debt bondage, and verbal, physical, and sexual abuse. In some cases, migrants reportedly pay smuggling fees to reach Tripoli, but once they cross the Libyan border they are sometimes abandoned in southern cities or the desert where they are susceptible to severe forms of abuse and human trafficking.   Sami left Eritrea when he was 15 years old. He travelled to Ethiopia and from there he made it to Sudan. From Sudan, he was smuggled into Libya via Chad, after paying smugglers $1,500. On the Libyan border, he was caught and told by the Libyans he had been sold by the Chadian smugglers and needed to pay more money.

Libya exists as the main transit point for refugees and migrants trying to reach Europe by sea. 150 000 men, women and children make the dangerous crossing across the Mediterranean Sea each year, with 3000 dying while attempting the journey. With authorities trying to regulate this migration, it is estimated that 400,000 to 1 million people are now bottled up in Libya. This has led to detention centres becoming overrun and along with other abuses, migrants find themselves vulnerable to being sold off in slave auctions as labourers, sex workers or to militia groups.

Bouquet was sold to work on a plantation in Sabha. He then found himself kidnapped by rebels led by Abdul Karim, captured and held along with 1000 other people he was subjected to physical abuse daily. Though he was able to escape in 2016, Bouquet details the conditions endured in Libya, he tells of the resale of migrant prisoners to rebels as slaves, and of the trafficking of migrant’s organs who drown on their journey across the Mediterranean.