Corporate report

Libya - country of concern: latest update 31 December 2014

Updated 21 January 2015

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

Any incidents or events taking place after 31 December 2014 will be covered in future reports.

0.1 Latest Update: 31 December 2014

The human rights situation in Libya has deteriorated over the last three months. This is due to ongoing fighting across the country and a worsening political situation.

On 23 December, the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), in cooperation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), published a quarterly update on human rights and humanitarian law concerns in Libya. The report highlighted that violations and abuses of international human rights and humanitarian law have arisen from the violence between armed groups, including hundreds of deaths, mass displacement and a humanitarian crisis in many areas.

The UN estimated that 120,000 persons in the West of Libya have been internally displaced in the last quarter and have subsequently suffered from food and medical shortages. Additionally, there have been a number of deaths and injured people. Although exact figures are difficult to verify, the UN believes that some 1,000 people were killed and 500 injured during intense fighting in Warshafana, and another 170 killed in fighting in the Nafusa Mountains. Deaths were also caused by indiscriminate shelling by both sides, including airstrikes.

In the East, intense fighting continued in Benghazi between the Libyan National Army forces and the Benghazi Revolutionaries’ Shura Council (BRSC) alliance. The UN report that approximately 450 people were killed from mid-October to mid-December as a result of the battles. UNSMIL has received reports of indiscriminate shelling by both sides, as well as indiscriminate airstrikes by the air force aligned with Operation Dignity (carried out by forces loyal to General Haftar against Islamist armed groups in Benghazi). The intense fighting has worsened the humanitarian situation, including by causing food and water shortages. A number of hospitals have been damaged in the fighting, including from rocket strikes, and staff in various medical facilities in Benghazi have reported threats against them. There have also been a number of reported beheadings in Derna, and violent murders and kidnappings of Egyptian Coptic Christians in Sirte.

In the South, the UN reported that fighting between Tuareg and Tebu armed groups, particularly since October around Owbari, caused some 140 deaths.

The UN quarterly update noted that there has been a rise in targeted attacks, assassinations and kidnappings of human rights activists, media professionals and other public figures in Tripoli. This includes attacks on media outlets. Many Libyans are fearful about voicing their opinions due to the risk of violent reprisals. On 14 October, Amnesty International issued a report on militia abuses which highlights the increase in abductions of civilians. Libya Centre for Press Freedom reported that 2014 was the worst year for press freedom in Libya. Reporters without Borders has listed eastern Libya as one of the five most dangerous places in the world for journalists.

Detention centres and the treatment of detainees in Libya remains a concern, particularly facilities holding migrants. Detention centres continue to suffer from poor sanitation, overcrowding, and a lack of medical provisions. A number of detention facilities remain outside of government control, including makeshift prisons run solely by militias. There has also been a rise in the number of people kidnapped for prisoner exchanges between militia groups: many of those held have reported mistreatment and torture whilst in illegal detention. In some areas, such as Derna and Benghazi, the detention system has completely collapsed. There is a lack of security for judges, prosecutors and judicial police, with assassinations, intimidation and kidnaps being common, particularly in relation to conflict-related detainees.

The UK Special Envoy, Jonathan Powell, is working closely with the UN to help find a political settlement and reach a ceasefire. This is a UK priority.

Some of the UK’s programme work in Libya has also had to be scaled back to reflect the changes on the ground. However, we do continue to run or support a number of programmes which contribute towards human rights objectives:

• supporting humanitarian mine clearance in Sebha;
• supporting two media projects in Libya which are helping to address the lack of good quality, balanced and impartial reporting on events in Libya:
• the BBC Media Action’s “News for All” project is carrying out editorial and production training with Libyan media practitioners, and is setting up a daily ‘pop up’ news service in Arabic to provide regular news output for Libya, as well as planning to produce a number of news and interview-based programmes to inform Libyans better on events at home; and
• the Institute for War and Peace Reporting’s “Al Maidan media labs” project has facilitated the establishment of two media training labs in Libyans universities, and is now, alongside BBC Media Action, continuing to work with Libyan journalist interns to channel new news material through a number of radio stations in Libya.

Critically, both projects are working with, and through, Libyan trainees and interns to ensure that the outcomes of the projects prove as sustainable as possible;

• supporting NGO No Peace without Justice on transitional justice processes in Libya, including in relation to monitoring of trials of figures from the Qaddafi regime; providing support to civil society organisations for their advocacy work on transitional justice and in their interactions with the International Criminal Court; and carrying out mapping of human rights abuses in Libya; and
• supporting NGO DanChurchAid in assisting women’s civil society organisations to advocate for women’s rights in the Libyan constitution drafting process and national dialogue and reconciliation process.

On 10 December, the UK marked International Human Rights Day and launched a popular online campaign calling for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to be respected. The video has reached over 700,000 people.

The British Embassy is temporarily closed due to the security and political crisis. A temporary office has been established in Tunis. The majority of other international embassies have also relocated.

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