Instead of being a place of transit for migrants on their way to Europe, Libya has become a trafficking market where people are bought and sold on a daily basis for as little as $200.
We interviewed photojournalist Narciso Contreras, recipient of the 7th Carmignac Photojournalism Award, on his experience photographing this unfolding humanitarian crisis.
Six years after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi, Libya is still a lawless state where armed groups compete for land and resources and large weapons and people-smuggling networks operate with impunity.
"We got contacts with smugglers in the south, with militias in the north – key characters that gave us access to very sensitive information. [...] You’re taken by hand by these characters, so you have to move very carefully," Contreras said.
Read full interview: 'World turns blind eye to Libya slave trade', says photojournalist
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Contreras’s work on Libya is on show at the Saatchi Gallery in London until June 16, 2017.
All images © Narciso Contreras for Fondation Carmignac.
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