Gambia: Slavery’s Shadow The European Union’s Role in Enabling Human Trafficking in North Africa” –

Ladies and gentlemen, elders, and young people of The Gambia,

I stand before you today to speak about an appalling and shameful crisis that the world cannot, and must not, ignore. It’s a crisis unfolding right now, in 2024, in Tunisia and Libya, and it is a crisis that involves the exploitation of West African youth in a way that feels like a grotesque echo of history.

How many of you know the story of slavery? Our ancestors were taken from their homes, chained and shackled,…