Author: Katie Kuschminder
Dr. Katie Kuschminder is an assistant professor at Maastricht Graduate School of Governance and UNU-MERIT. She recently completed an NWO Rubicon scholarship at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute. Her project at the EUI is a comparative analysis of Eritrean and Nigerian migrants decision-making factors in Italy.

For years, Eritreans fleeing their homeland have known that, even if they make it to Libya, they will be kidnapped and ransomed. The extortion is systematic. Since the fall of Moammar Gadhafi, the southeast of Libya has been under the partial control of the Tubu tribe, which has established a successful cross-border trade in goods, drugs and people. Kidnappers in this region are ruthless, holding people in appalling conditions and torturing individuals. (More…)