OHCHR calls for new mechanism to track, tackle ‘gross’ violations in Libya

Anjali Sharma

GG News Bureau

UNITED NATIONS, 4th April. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said on Monday that the new tools must be deployed to keep the global pressure on ongoing gross violations and crimes against humanity in Libya and serve justice to its victims at the Human Rights Council’s latest session.

Mr. Volker Türk said “Libyan authorities, armed groups, smugglers, and human traffickers should not assume that the eyes of the international community have now left Liby.,.

“It is crucial that we redouble efforts to secure accountability for past violations and continue to monitor the reality on the ground to prevent future violations,” he said.

He echoed calls for action made by them Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Libya.

UN-recognized Government of National Accord is based in Tripoli and the forces of General Khalifa Haftar’s so-called Libyan National Army control much of the east and southern areas.

FFM in its final report recommended that the UN Human Rights Office establish a distinct and autonomous mechanism with an ongoing mandate to monitor and report on gross human rights violations in Libya, with a view to supporting Libyan reconciliation efforts, and assisting the Libyan authorities in achieving transitional justice and accountability.

FFM chair Mohamed Auajjar addressed the Human Rights Council and shared grim details, findings, and recommendations contained in its report.

“The situation in Libya is still very dire,” he said.

“Violations continue unabated, and fundamental freedoms and the human rights situation have deteriorated.”

It conducted over 400 interviews, collected 2,800 items of information, and undertaking 13 missions, including to Tripoli and Banghazi, and to countries including Italy, Rwanda, Malta, and the Netherlands.

The Mission has found reasonable grounds to believe that crimes against humanity were committed against Libyans and migrants throughout Libya in the context of deprivation of liberty since 2016.

He said that findings confirmed the widespread practice of arbitrary detention, murder, torture, rape, enslavement, sexual slavery, and enforced disappearance.

“The rapid, deep, and ongoing absorption of armed groups and their leadership into State-affiliated structures and institutions are of significant concern,” Mr. Auajjar cautioned.

“We regret that these crimes continue to be committed until today,” he added.

Mr. Türk stressed that his Office will strengthen its work on Libya, where the human rights situation continues to deteriorate amid widespread violence by armed actors, ongoing political deadlock, and deepening curbs on civic space.

He raised deep concern over the intensifying crackdown on civil society through a Government decree declaring all national and international civil society organizations registered after 2011, illegal.

“Regulations concerning civil society should respect the fundamental rights of freedom of assembly and association, not suffocate and criminalize the work of those working for a rights-based future for Libya,” he said.

He underlined the importance of holding national elections and working towards sustainable peace.