A video where men are apparently being bidded on and sold at an auction in Libya has brought forth a significant amount of international attention. This video has revealed the immense abuse and exploitation of migrants and refugees to this north African nation.

The footage caught attention after an investigation conducted by CNN’s Nima Elbagir, Raja Razek and Alex Platt last month. As a result, both European and African leaders have mustered support to take action against this humanitarian crisis. Late November, leaders of Germany, France, Libya, Chad and several other countries settled on an initiative to begin evacuating many thousand of migrants and refugees kept within Libya’s detention camps.

The poor quality video seemingly displays smugglers bartering and selling several men outside the nation’s capital, Tripoli.

“Does anybody need a digger,” said an auctioneer in the video which was analyzed by CNN investigators. “This is a digger, a big strong man, he’ll dig. What am I bid, what am I bid?”

These auctions have come at a result of Libya being the main shipping area for migrants and refugees attempting to arrive in Europe through the sea. Hundreds of thousands of people have gone through the treacherous journey across the Mediterranean Sea from Libya. At the same time, several thousand have died while trying to make it to Europe in the process, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari spoke out about the many Nigerian refugees testimonies of the conditions they had experienced. He referenced the former Prime Minister of Libya, Muammar Gaddafi, the man who ruled the country for about four decades. Gaddafi was removed from power in 2011 and later killed, the country falling into civil war soon after.

“In the interview some of you saw, some of the Nigerians said they were being sold like goats for a few dollars for years in Libya,” President Buhari said. “Now after 43 years of Gaddafi where he recruited so many people from the Sahel, including Nigeria and so on, all they learned was how to shoot and kill.”

As of now, the U.N. backed Libyan government has launched a formal investigation into these apparent allegations. The nation has been considered a failed state ever since Gaddafi’s fall. The transitional government put in placed failed to properly implement the country’s laws, resulting in the nation splintering into many factions, militias, tribes and ganges. For many desperate Libyans, slave trade and smuggling has been seen as an profitable industry . This has lead many to assume that the one form of aid possible is from the international community.