The alleged auctioning in Libya of migrants as slaves is "dramatic and heinous" and Italy will continue to respect human rights in its support of state-building in the conflict-wracked North African country, Italian centre-left senator Nicola Latorre said on Wednesday.
"It is dramatic and heinous but we have nothing to be embarrassed about. Respect for human rights is a concern that we have never ignored," Latorre told Italy's Radio anch'io talk show.
"Italy's involvement in Libya is to support the creation of a state and we must keep working in that direction - there is no alternative strategy," Latorre said.
His comments came after undercover reporters for US television network CNN on Tuesday alleged they witnessed African migrants being sold as slaves for 400 dollars each at an auction in the Libyan capita, Tripoli.
Also on Tuesday, the United Nations human rights chief Zeid Raad al-Hussein flayed Italy and the European Union for their "inhumane" support of Libyan coastguard intercepting and returning migrants in the Mediterranean to horrific conditions in detention centres in Libya.
