By JarranewsTV Staff Reporter The Human Rights Association (HRA) has issued a strong warning over the continued exploitation, trafficking, and abuse of Gambian migrants transiting through Libya on their way to Europe, describing the situation as an ongoing humanitarian crisis that demands urgent international attention. In a statement shared with media houses through the WeCare Foundation’s Communications Director, Michael Smith, HRA Chairman Saad Kassis-Mohamed said trafficking networks in Libya remain active and continue to prey on vulnerable Gambian nationals seeking safer opportunities abroad. According to the HRA, the exploitative system of detention, extortion, and abuse previously documented by human rights organizations has not been dismantled by Libyan authorities, while the route funneling Gambians into the hands of traffickers remains fully operational. The organization cited several documented testimonies from Gambian survivors who endured severe abuse in Libya. One victim, identified as Lamin, reportedly left The Gambia in early 2025 after the collapse of his small business. After crossing into Libya through the southern desert route, he was allegedly intercepted by an armed militia and taken to a detention facility where dozens of West African migrants were being held. The HRA stated that Lamin’s family in Banjul was contacted and ordered to pay ransom money for his release. Despite borrowing funds from relatives and neighbours, the payment reportedly failed to secure his freedom, as he was later sold to another trafficker demanding additional payment. Lamin eventually escaped after spending four months in detention. “Libya is a place where a Gambian person is not treated as a human being, but as a transaction,” the survivor reportedly told investigators. The HRA also highlighted the case of Fatou, a young Gambian woman from the Brikama area, who was allegedly separated from her group at a checkpoint in southern Libya. The organization said she was subjected to repeated sexual violence and forced into unpaid domestic servitude. Her family reportedly received ransom demands but could not raise the requested amount. After more than two months in captivity, she was transferred during a security operation and later deported to Niger before eventually returning to The Gambia without any formal support or rehabilitation assistance. The HRA stressed that these incidents are not isolated cases but part of a persistent pattern of trafficking and abuse affecting Gambian migrants in Libya. Referencing a February 2026 United Nations report, the organization noted that the trafficking system in Libya has become a “brutal and normalised reality” operating as “business as usual.” “The Libyan authorities have not acted. The pipeline has not been closed. Gambian nationals are still entering it,” the HRA stated. The association further argued that dismantling trafficking networks, releasing migrants held in arbitrary detention, and prosecuting state-affiliated actors involved in the abuses are obligations under international law and should not depend on political considerations. Chairman Saad Kassis-Mohamed is said to be available for further comments and interviews regarding the matter. Post navigation The Price of Justice: How The Gambia’s Transitional Justice Process Enriched the System While Victims Were Left Behind