Number
171285
Version
ORIGINAL
Reference
Sponsor
ALD. RAINEY, COGGS, HAMILTON, STAMPER, II, KOVAC, BAUMAN, WITKOWSKI, PEREZ, JOHNSON, BORKOWSKI AND LEWIS
Title
Resolution expressing the City of Milwaukee’s condemnation of the slave trade in Libya and urging the United States government to take the steps necessary to eradicate this practice.
Analysis
This resolution expresses the City of Milwaukee’s condemnation of the slave trade in Libya and urges the United States government to take the steps necessary to eradicate this practice.
Body
Whereas, In November, 2017, CNN published cellphone and hidden-camera footage from slave auctions conducted in Libya showing West African migrants being sold as merchandise by smugglers operating in illicit trafficking networks; and
Whereas, Al Jazeera reports that hundreds of African refugees are being bought and sold in slave markets across Libya every week, with many of them held for ransom or forced into sexual exploitation to pay their captors and smugglers, and many of them being murdered by their smugglers in the open desert or dying from thirst or car accidents in the Libyan desert; and
Whereas, The refugees and migrants are smuggled into Libya from West African nations by a network of criminal gangs on the promise of reaching European shores, and many of the refugees and migrants are forced to live in either open courtyards or ramshackle rooms without proper sanitation; and
Whereas, Ever since collapse of late Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi in 2011, the country has become the focal point of regional smuggling networks; and
Whereas, For the fourth year in a row, more than 3,000 migrants or refugees have drowned annually in the Mediterranean Sea; and
Whereas, A United Nations human rights report in September warned of “the hidden human calamity” taking place along Libya’s coast, documenting accounts of migrants being robbed, raped, and murdered; and
Whereas, Libya’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been called upon to investigate the crisis, a number of West African nations withdrew their ambassadors from Tripoli or chastised the Libyan envoys in their own capitals, and French diplomats pushed for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council; and
Whereas, Libyan officials have denounced the migrant slave auctions, but claim more support is required from the global community to tackle the issue, and the U.N. Libyan Government of National Accord intends to address violations against migrants, but calls upon regional and global partners to provide assistance; and
Whereas, The City of Milwaukee agrees with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s statement that “slavery has no place in our world and these actions are among the most egregious abuses of human rights and may amount to crimes against humanity”; now, therefore, be it
Resolved, By the Common Council of the City of Milwaukee, that the City of Milwaukee condemns the Libyan slave trade; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Department of Administration - Intergovernmental Relations Division shall include the substance of this resolution in the City of Milwaukee’s Federal Legislative Package for the 115th United States Congress; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Department of Administration - Intergovernmental Relations Division is directed to actively support all efforts to end the Libyan slave trade within the purview of its capacity and urge the United States government to take the steps necessary to eradicate this practice; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the City Clerk shall send copies of this resolution to the President of the United States, all members of Wisconsin’s Congressional delegation, the heads of all appropriate federal agencies, all members of the Wisconsin Legislature, the Governor of Wisconsin, all members of the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors, and the Milwaukee County Executive.
Requestor
Drafter
LRB170409-1
Tea Norfolk
11/29/2017