On 30 March, the New Arab published an opinion piece by Lubna Yousef and Tim Eaton entitled ‘The dual face of migrant smuggling in Libya’. In the article, the authors analyse the situation in Zawiyya in northwestern Libya, where migrants make up a quarter of the population, discussing how those involved in human smuggling and trafficking present themselves as the solution to the very crisis they helped create. They note that Zawiyya’s residents are torn between sympathy for the plight of migrants and hostility towards them for being different, adding that locals struggle to differentiate between trafficking and smuggling, claiming that trafficking in humans does not exist in the city. Yousef and Eaton stress that it can be difficult to label those involved in the migration ‘business’, as they often wear many hats. They can be part of state-affiliated security forces while also maintaining an outward appearance in the community as civil servants, humanitarians, and community leaders.
Read the full article here.