The world's most vulnerable, fleeing war and poverty back home, are being abused and auctioned off as slaves - a shocking danger facing migrants and refugees in Libya. It has been reported that hundreds of people are being auctioned in modern day slave markets in Libya for as little as $400.

Libya is the main transit hub for refugees and migrants attempting to reach southern Europe by sea. They are coming from countries like Nigeria, Eritrea, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Senegal, Sudan and Somalia.

The power vacuum in Libya after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi has made human trafficking and people smuggling a booming trade.

And the European Union's renewed strategy to stop migrants and refugees travelling across the Mediterranean has led to more people being stuck in the north African country without money or food.

Al Jazeera's Bernard Smith reports.