France calls for UN sanctions on human traffickers in Libya

French Ambassador to the UN François Delattre has recommended the international body impose targeted sanctions against individuals implicated in human trafficking in Libya.

After calling for the UN Security Council meeting yesterday, Delattre also proposed perpetrators be prosecuted at the International Criminal Court.

The council’s emergency meeting comes after US news network CNN aired a video in which African migrants appeared being sold as slaves in Libya.

“France will propose to assist the sanctions committee… in identifying responsible individuals and entities for trafficking through Libyan territory,” the French envoy told the council.

“We count upon support of the council members to make headway to that end.”

Read: Libya’s detention of migrants is ‘inhuman’ says UN official

The UN Security Council called on the African Union to help combat illegal migration, stressing that the absence of law in Libya led to the emergence of human trafficking.

Britain’s UN Ambassador Karen Pierce also called for sanctions to be placed on those involved in human trafficking in Libya.

Migrants have regularly faced abuse in Libya where their money is taken by smugglers in return for space on dinghy boats where people often drown while attempting to cross the Mediterranean or they are forced to live in detention centres where they face torture and rape.