GENEVA, Switzerland — UN investigators
lamented Monday that serious rights violations, including possible crimes
against humanity, were continuing with impunity across much of
Libya, blocking
the country’s transition to peace and democracy.
اضافة اعلان
In a fresh report, the Independent Fact-Finding
Mission on Libya warned that multiple and widespread violations threatened the
integrity of the electoral process and efforts to move towards democracy.
“There will be no peace without ending these
violations. There will be no democracy without putting an end to impunity,”
mission chair Mohamed Auajjar told reporters.
The three-person team pointed to intimidation and
harassment of activists, attacks on lawyers and judges, and mass violations
against vulnerable groups like migrants, women, and detainees.
The experts had already concluded in their first
report last October that acts of murder, torture, imprisonment, rape and
enforced disappearance in Libya’s prisons may amount to crimes against
humanity.
Since then, “we have uncovered further evidence that
the human rights violations experienced by detainees in Libya are widespread,
systematic or both,” Auajjar said.
The mission’s second report covers the period since
last November, coinciding with increased political turmoil in the lead-up to
and aftermath of the postponement of hoped-for elections.
Libya was meant to hold elections last December, as
part of a UN-guided peace process aiming to draw a line under a complex
conflict that dates back to the 2011 revolt that toppled and killed dictator
Muammar Gaddafi.
But as political factions wrangled over the legal
basis and the eligibility of controversial candidates, the polls were postponed
indefinitely.
‘Alarming’
Auajjar said the fact-finding mission, which was created by the
UN Human Rights Council in June 2020, would not comment on political developments in the
country.
However, the team
had focused heavily on violations and crimes “that can especially hamper
Libya’s transition to peace, democracy and the rule of law,” he said.
“In our view, the
culture of impunity that is prevailing in different parts of Libya is impeding
that transition.”
The experts said
they had received “alarming reports of attacks on civil society organizations
and activists in Libya.”
The report
decried a “public campaign denigrating the work of civil society and a
shrinking civic space,” pointing to how “activists are routinely threatened
online ... and live under the constant fear of abduction, arrest and arbitrary
detention.”
And “chilling
video recordings of activists ‘confessions’ were posted” on the Tripoli
Internal Security Facebook page, it said.
“The mission
fears that such ‘confessions’ may have been obtained under duress and are
intended to terrorize activists.”
The experts highlighted
impunity for attacks against women politicians, including for the enforced
disappearance of parliamentarian Seham Sergiwa in 2019, and the 2020 killing of
outspoken lawyer and activist Hanan Al-Barassi.
This has had a
chilling effect on women eager to participate in politics in Libya, the experts
said.
“We see the
shrinking civic space,” mission member Tracy Robinson told reporters.
And especially,
she said, “we see shrinking numbers of women engaged in government.”
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