David Yambio

Executive Director of @RefugeesinLibya ,
Community Advocate, Human Rights Defender, and cofounder. Focus on Libya 🇱🇾Tunisia 🇹🇳 & Europe 🇪🇺

[David Yambio @DavidYambio]

Deliberate reduction of human beings into nothingness.

For years, this is what we have fought to make visible: EU-funded concentration camps in Libya where enslaved “migrants” and “refugees” are detained en masse, shoulder against shoulder, body against body, with barely enough room to turn or sit upright. Exhaustion, dehydration, disorientation, heat, suffocation, darkness, sheer collapse—you name it.

One does not need visible blood for violence to be present. Sometimes violence is architectural, administrative, and above all a decision to place hundreds of enslaved people in a room never meant to contain them and then call it “migration management.”

My outrage comes from the fact that such scenes have become normalised both in Libya, Europe and around the globe. The world has slowly learned to consume the dehumanisation of “migrants” as recurring theme instead of evidence of ongoing crimes against human beings that concerns all of humanity.

And while this reality is already unbearable, this morning a document leaked to @StatewatchEU confirmed that the EU has begun collaborating with Haftar’s forces in eastern Libya on “migration control.”

The result will be worse than what is happening in this footage.

This is a condition that no court, parliament, humanitarian institution, or democratic society should tolerate for a single hour, let alone for years that has passed.

[David Yambio @DavidYambio]

Slave trade supported by Europe.

The auctioning of Black people in Libya continues to this very day. This is what the OHCHR described in its February report as “business as usual.”

Reports from Tobruk this evening, accompanied by credible video evidence, indicate that a joint operation targeting locations and gatherings of Black people—predominantly “migrants” and “refugees”—was carried out across residential neighbourhoods and industrial areas by a range of militias operating under the so-called General Intelligence Service, the Internal Security Agency, the Tobruk Security Directorate, and other armed groups.

As a result, thousands were rounded up. Now the auctioning begins, with the highest bidder taking as many people as possible for the purposes of enslavement, rape, extortion, forced labour, and the extraction of profit and political capital.

This is the nightmare of African Black people in Libya.

All of this happens under the watch of the international community, under the watch of African governments, under the watch of the African Union, and under the watch of European institutions that continue to invest in the very system that makes such abuses possible.

How much longer will this continue to be normalised?

How much longer will Black lives remain a commodity in Libya?

How much longer will those responsible continue to enjoy impunity while the victims are hunted, captured, sold, and abused?

[Refugees In Libya @RefugeesinLibya]

Some borders do not end when you cross them.

Even when you move, it moves with you, it follow you into your sleep, into your memories, into the language you speak, into the way you see yourself and the world around you.

“A Border That Keeps Following Me” is a poem by @DavidYambio on memory, displacement, survival, and the invisible borders that continue long after the journey is over.

Read the full poem through the link in our bio:
https://t.co/EVmNH7TiDI

#Poetry #FreedomOfMovement #Migration #HumanRights

[David Yambio @DavidYambio]

Yesterday at sea, dozens of people were captured at gunpoint by violent and unrepentant militias in eastern Libya seeking legitimacy from Europe — and legitimacy they have started to receive.

They exhibit their “catch” to impress Brussels, to demonstrate that they are capable partners. At the same time, they loosen their grip when it suits them, allowing hundreds to leave towards Greece and Italy. This is their currency, and they understand far too well how to manipulate the political imagination of Europe.

But this currency comes at an unacceptable cost: human beings; individuals and entire groups are captured indiscriminately, controlled, abused, enslaved, raped, tortured, extorted, and subjected to countless other forms of violence.

My outrage is that people fleeing a country widely documented for arbitrary detention, torture, extortion, forced labour, sexual violence, and State sponsored human trafficking can still be intercepted and returned there while officials continue to speak the language of “border management.”

My outrage is that armed militias seeking political recognition, international partnerships, funding, equipment, or diplomatic legitimacy can strengthen their position through the business of “migration control,” and do so without being met with meaningful political, legal, or moral resistance.

We will challenge Brussels and its politicians through every available legal avenue. As for those who continue to support and defend these policies despite the overwhelming evidence of their consequences, they will continue to have our strongest moral condemnation.

#NoDealsWithLibya

[David Yambio @DavidYambio]

196 people captured at gunpoint by violent and unrepentant militias in eastern Libya seeking legitimacy from Europe — and legitimacy they have started to receive.

They exhibit their “catch” to impress Brussels, to demonstrate that they are capable partners. At the same time, they loosen their grip when it suits them, allowing hundreds to leave towards Greece and Italy. This is their currency, and they understand far too well how to manipulate the political imagination of Europe.

But this currency comes at an unacceptable cost: human beings; individuals and entire groups are captured indiscriminately, controlled, abused, enslaved, raped, tortured, extorted, and subjected to countless other forms of violence.

My outrage is that people fleeing a country widely documented for arbitrary detention, torture, extortion, forced labour, sexual violence, and State sponsored human trafficking can still be intercepted and returned there while officials continue to speak the language of “border management.”

My outrage is that armed militias seeking political recognition, international partnerships, funding, equipment, or diplomatic legitimacy can strengthen their position through the business of “migration control,” and do so without being met with meaningful political, legal, or moral resistance.

We will challenge Brussels and its politicians through every available legal avenue. As for those who continue to support and defend these policies despite the overwhelming evidence of their consequences, they will continue to have our strongest moral condemnation.

#NoDealsWithLibya

[David Yambio @DavidYambio]

9/9

[David Yambio @DavidYambio]

I sincerely believe that poetry remains one of the few places where a person can argue with memory, speak to revolution, fantasize about love, express rage, and question borders without needing permission or an audience.

§ A Border That Keeps Following Me §

I wrote this piece after reading Nizar Qabbani’s A Woman Walking Inside Me.

It is also a tribute to him, for poets like him have taught us that another way is possible, and that we can, in our own ways, however little, speak to what lives inside us. This is still the version that speaks most truthfully to my soul.

If you know any poetry lovers who might be willing to support the printing of some of my work, please let me know.

[David Yambio @DavidYambio]

5/9

[News Central TV @NewsCentralTV]

"Ghanaians are gone now, 300 of them. How many 300 jobs were created after the Ghanaians left."

Julius Malema says blaming migrants for job losses deepens colonial divisions and that Ghana’s response risks blaming entire societies for the actions of a few people.

[David Yambio @DavidYambio]

Reflections After the El-Hishri Hearing:

For nights and days, I contemplated what to share about the recent court hearing of El-Hishri at the @IntlCrimCourt.

To this day, I still do not know exactly what to write. My thoughts are fragmented, and thousands of questions linger in my mind about a world increasingly unable or unwilling to confront injustice equally.

As far as Libya is concerned, and the innumerable injustices I was subjected to there, I can finally say that I am proud of the commitment shown by those who continued to trust the Court throughout the nightmarish 15 years of its investigation into crimes against humanity in Libya.

In 2011, when Libya’s situation was referred to the Court by the UN Security Council, I was a teenager in South Sudan who had already seen and lived through much violence and injustice.

Little did I know that I would one day end up in Libya, where my world would be darkened even further, where my dignity would be violated, where I would be enslaved, starved, tortured, commodified, and reduced to nothing but a tool to be used for political purposes.

While I sat in the courtroom last week, I questioned every meaning of justice. Was seeing this one man in custody enough? Would the system under which he acted stop? Would those who supported him directly and indirectly ever be investigated and punished? I did not find all the answers, but one thing was certain: even if the system does not immediately end, those who commit crimes must still be individually held accountable for their deeds.

That day, I was not alone in that room. The courtroom was filled with victims, survivors, journalists, diplomats, lawyers, and civil society actors gathered to witness those historic days

Throughout those days, I wore my best outfit—a white agbada from West Africa. Many did not understand it; some questioned why someone from South Sudan would proudly wear a dress presumed to be from Nigeria. I simply said that it made me feel proud and somehow restored in my humanity. I wore it intentionally, silently saying: I was here, I saw it, I experienced it, I survived it, and now I seek justice and accountability

During those days, I was there representing, in one way or another, so many affected people on the move who are victims of the broader infrastructure of violence in Libya, but above all -myself

For all the days I was there, I rarely slept at night. I was haunted by screams of pain and despair that for years had inhabited my body and spirit.

I must say, I am sad and disappointed that there was not enough coverage of this monumental achievement, no real outrage from European societies that constantly speak of justice and accountability while the very face used by Europe to exercise terror is finally being investigated.

Let us all work together for a better, peaceful, just, and inclusive world. Let race not divide us, and above all, let the powers that sustain suffering in our world never remain unchallenged.

[Refugees In Libya @RefugeesinLibya]

What’s happening in Italy is shameful and far from normal. It’s unacceptable that they’re investigating a humanitarian sea rescuer who was actually shot at by Libyan militias funded by the very government.

Italy never had the courage to investigate Al-Masri, Bijja, Gheniwa and countless other internationally wanted criminals who come and leave the country as they please, with some even flown on State flights.

This must stop now.

We offer our full solidarity to the entire @seawatchcrew.

Italy and your Libyan militia, we will see you in the courtroom of the International Criminal Court!

[David Yambio @DavidYambio]

And here today in Rome, we have added another piece of great evidence to our hands (Book of Shame + C’è di mezzo il mare) — evidence available to anyone seeking to understand the deadly consequences of Europe’s policies: not only its colonial border externalisation, but also its racism, xenophobia, its war against migrant people, against human rights and dignity, and Italy’s continuous reinforcement of the capabilities of perpetrators of crimes against humanity — between the failed state of Libya and the fascist government of the Italian Republic.

It is what we have been forced to do as a last resort: to write, to protest, to campaign, and to tell stories of horrors that should have never happened in the first place. C’è di mezzo il mare recounts what Italy prefers to bury under the propaganda machine of “invasion,” “border control,” and “migration management.” It narrates not only the colonial past in Libya but also the present — the funnelling of millions of euros of Italian and European taxpayers’ money to mafia networks in Libya and across North Africa, with the sole aim of destabilising the region and enabling the continuous extraction and theft of its resources.

This must not and cannot be on our bodies. We are calling for an immediate end to this bloody 2017 Italy–Libya Memorandum.

And once again, I write this as a proclamation: we are still here, and we will not be silenced. We are the agency of our own voice, our own history, our own story, and our own resistance.

For those in Italy, or those who speak Italian — go get yourself a copy.

#stopmoulibya

[Davide Tommasin ዳዊት @davide_tommasin]

@refugeesniger @Refugees @UNGeneva @humanrightslaw @JFCrisp @AlinaCobirlau @AUC_PAPS @_AfricanUnion @DavidYambio @EU_UNGeneva @MeltingPotEU @LagrangeMagali @UN_HRC @UNHumanRightsEU @TedrosGottaGo 🔴Queste persone, adulti e bambini, sono abbandonati alle politiche di scarico responsabilità europee e dall'inadeguatezza di agenzie umanitarie come UNHCR che sono al soldo dei finianziamenti di scelte politiche che negano la tutela ai diritti universali.
#KeepEyesOnAgadez

[Community of Squatted Prosfygika @Prosfygika]

ΤΕΤΑΡΤΗ 29/4, 84Η ΗΜΕΡΑ ΑΠΕΡΓΙΑΣ ΠΕΙΝΑΣ ΤΟΥ ΑΡΙΣΤΟΤΕΛΗ ΧΑΝΤΖΗ ΜΕΧΡΙ ΘΑΝΑΤΟΥ ΓΙΑ ΤΗΝ ΥΠΕΡΑΣΠΙΣΗ ΤΗΣ ΖΩΗΣ ΕΝΑΡΞΗ 10ΗΣ ΣΥΜΒΟΛΙΚΗΣ ΑΠΕΡΓΙΑΣ ΠΕΙΝΑΣ

Έναρξη της 10ης συμβολικής κυκλικής απεργίας πείνας συντρόφων και συντροφισσών για τη στήριξη του αγώνα της Κοινότητας των Κατειλημμένων Προσφυγικών και ως ένδειξη συμπαράστασης και αλληλεγγύης στην απεργία πείνας, από 5/2, του Αριστοτέλη Χαντζή μέχρι θανάτου, για την υπεράσπιση της ζωής.

Την Παρασκευή 1 Μαΐου θα ξεκινήσει και ένα ακόμα μέλος της Κοινότητας Κατειλημμένων Προσφυγικών απεργία πείνας μέχρι θανάτου, για την κλιμάκωση του αγώνα μας.

ΚΑΤΩ ΤΑ ΧΕΡΙΑ ΑΠ’ ΤΑ ΠΡΟΣΦΥΓΙΚΑ

Ή ΘΑ ΝΙΚΗΣΟΥΜΕ Ή ΘΑ ΝΙΚΗΣΟΥΜΕ

WEDNESDAY 29/4, 84TH DAY OF HUNGER STRIKE OF ARISTOTELIS CHANTZIS UNTIL DEATH FOR THE DEFENCE OF LIFE, START OF THE 10TH SYMBOLIC HUNGER STRIKE

Start of the 10th symbolic cyclical hunger strike by our comrades in support of the struggle of the Community of Squatted Prosfygika and as a sign of solidarity with the hunger strike from February 5th, by Aristotelis Chantzis until death, in defense of life.

Οn Friday, 1st of May, one more member of the Community of Squatted Prosfygika will start a hunger strike until death, for the escalation of our struggle.

HANDS OFF PROSFYGIKA

WE WILL WIN OR WE WILL WIN

#antireport
#saveprosfygika
#prosfygikahungerstrike

[David Yambio @DavidYambio]

Believe me, I cannot tell you how many times a day I hold my breath, clench my teeth, and feel my stomach turn at the horrors that Black African people—labeled as “migrants” and “refugees” —endure in North Africa.

One of those horrors is here.

In this video is a Gambian national with severe burns inflicted on him in Sfax, Tunisia.

And yet, people sit comfortably in Europe and say, “Why are they coming here. It’s not our fault what they experience on the way. It’s the Tunisians, the Libyans.” They say this with total ignorance—or rather arrogance—ignoring the fact that Europe finances the very system that enables these crimes.

🔶 It is Europe that creates the so-called migration management policies.
🔶 It is Europe that outsources its responsibilities to Libya, Tunisia, and their coastal regions.
🔶 It is Europe whose moral compass has collapsed.
🔶 It is Europe whose indifference is killing.
🔶 It is Europe that does not allow Africa to breathe and grow, to meet the needs and aspirations of its young people.

For now, I leave it to you:

When we receive such evidence—images and videos of human beings brutalised—what should we do with them?

[Refugees In Libya @RefugeesinLibya]

Urgent Appeal: Life-Saving Care Denied. Help Us Save These Two Survivors.

Please support this GoFundMe by donating or sharing – every bit of help makes a difference. https://t.co/Q1YCSYUDOx

[Ilaria Salis @SalisIlaria]

Migrants & refugees are welcome, fascists not

[Ilaria Salis @SalisIlaria]

Quattro gatti in piazza Duomo a #Milano per la manifestazione della Lega e i “Patrioti” europei sulla remigrazione.
La prossima volta statevene a casa che fate più bella figura!

[David Yambio @DavidYambio]

@Gemenne @cochetel I’ve been longing for these answers for years.

[David Yambio @DavidYambio]

Oh dear @cochetel, here you are again. Did you just use the word “illegal”? Isn’t “irregular” more befitting, given your past as a humanitarian aid worker?

It is often assumed that those of your experience carry a certain sense of honour, if any of that remains, please make use of it.

Also, I do not know whether you are addressing this as a French national or as a state official.

[vincent cochetel @cochetel]

There is no limbo, either they apply for asylum in one of the countries they have come through, either they are illegal on the French territory & should be sent back. This mismagement has been there for decades.