The United Nations Fact-Finding Mission has warned that urgent action is needed to remedy the deteriorating human rights situation in Libya.
Development Diaries reports that the mission, in a report it submitted, expressed deep concern over the country’s human rights situation.
It also concluded that there are grounds to believe a wide array of war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed by state security forces and armed militia groups.
According to a statement by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the report outlined a broad effort by authorities to repress dissent by civil society, and documented numerous cases of arbitrary detention, murder, rape, enslavement, extrajudicial killing and enforced disappearance.
The report also revealed that nearly all survivors interviewed had refrained from lodging official complaints out of fear of reprisals, arrest, extortion and a lack of confidence in the justice system.
The report further noted that migrants, in particular, have been targeted and there is overwhelming evidence that they have been systematically tortured.
It said there were reasonable grounds to believe that sexual slavery, a crime against humanity, was committed against migrants.
The mission’s chair, Mohamed Auajjar, said there is an urgent need for accountability to end the pervasive impunity.
‘We call on Libyan authorities to develop a human rights plan of action and a comprehensive, victim-centred roadmap on transitional justice without delay, and hold all those responsible for human rights violations accountable’, he said.
According to a report by USAID, significant human rights problems in Libya include unlawful or arbitrary killings by various armed groups; forced disappearances by various armed groups; torture perpetrated by armed groups on all sides; harsh and life-threatening conditions in prison and detention facilities.
There have also been reported cases of arbitrary arrest or detention; political prisoners or detainees; serious problems with the independence of the judiciary; arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy; serious abuses in internal conflict, including killing of civilians and the recruitment or use of children in conflict.
Freedom House ranked Libya as ‘not free’ in its Freedom in the World 2023 study of political rights and civil liberties, with the Maghreb nation earning ten points out of a potential 100.
Development Diaries calls on the Libyan authorities to respect the various international human rights laws to which it is a signatory, like the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which it ratified in 1976, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which it ratified in 1976.
Source: OHCHR
Photo source: OCHA
