Libya is a predominantly Arab country that has traditionally held racist views towards black-skinned, sub-Saharan Africans (although Libya does have indigenous Black populations including the Black Arabs and Black Berbers) although it's not all of them it's still prevalent among the country. The New York Times argues that Libya has a "long history of racist violence."[1]

Black Africans were victims of chatten slavery in Libya until the 20th-century. In the 21st century, significant numbers of sub-Saharan Africans came to Libya, primarily to work as unskilled labor. In recent years, a number of racist incidents targeting Black migrants have been reported.[2][3][4] According to Peter Bouckaert of Human Rights Watch, the incidents targeting migrants and refugees reflect "a deep-seated racism and anti-African sentiment in Libyan society."[1]

The clashes between Misrata and the black-majority town of Tawergha had some racist overtones, present before the start of the civil war. Rebel slogans like "the brigade for purging slaves, black skin" were scrawled on the road between Misrata and Tawregha.[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Kirkpatrick, David D. (2011-09-05). "Libyans Turn Wrath on Dark-Skinned Migrants". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-07-05.
  2. ^ William, Mary Aniefiok (2020-11-29). "Globalisation and African migration to Libya". African Indigenous Knowledges in a Postcolonial World. Routledge. pp. 241–259. doi:10.4324/9781003110842-22. ISBN 978-1-003-11084-2. S2CID 228816002. Racism in Libya is such that the migrants are being pelted with stones, spat upon, and called derogatory names such as 'abeed' or 'abd' meaning slave in Arabic
  3. ^ Bagdonas, Ąžuolas (2015). "The EU migration crisis and the Baltic security". Journal on Baltic Security. 1 (2): 7–27. doi:10.1515/jobs-2016-0019. ISSN 2382-9230. S2CID 157409257. While the UN has been reporting widespread torture, cruel, degrading and inhumane conditions, as well as racism in Libya's detention centers of both Tripoli and Tobruk governments since 2011
  4. ^ Krais, Jakob (2020). "Re-Centering Libya's History: Mediterranean Bulwark, Defender of Africa, or Bridge between Continents?". Lamma: A Journal of Libyan Studies. 1. he growing infux of sub-Saharan African migrants also led to conflicts and instances of racism in Libya. Despite all the insistence on the country's African character, Libya remained unmistakably also Arab
  5. ^ "Libya City Torn by Tribal Feud". The Wall street journal.


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