Libya: NPWJ welcomes the establishment of a UN Fact Finding Body as an important step towards accountability

On 22 June 2020, the United Nations Human Rights Council unanimously adopted a resolution calling for the immediate establishment of fact-finding mission to investigate violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law by all parties to the Libya conflict since the beginning of 2016.
 
Further to the recent findings on multiple mass graves in the city of Tarhuna and its surroundings, until recently controlled by forces loyal to general Khalifa Haftar, No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ) welcomes this decision as an important step toward accountability for those responsible for abuses and atrocities committed in Libya.
 
NPWJ calls on all states parties of the Human Rights Council to ensure the necessary support to allow this body to fulfil its mandate. This means preserving evidence where possible in view of identifying those responsible for violations and ensuring future criminal proceedings, as well as publicly reporting on the human rights situation in Libya. NPWJ also looks forward to a full cooperation with the International Criminal Court (which has a mandate to investigate war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Libya since 2011) with a view to expand its ongoing investigations and potential prosecutions.
 
After decades of dictatorship and illegality that typified Muammar Gaddafi’s rule, the Libyan people and civil society led in 2011 a revolution aimed at breaking with this legacy and at anchoring their country on a new respect for the rule of law. Despite the current dramatic and hectic situation, the principles and ideals for which the revolution was fought are still vivid and strong. NPWJ will continue to stand on the side of those striving to keep the flame of these aspirations and urge the international community to abide by it responsibility to foster an effective and inclusive transitional justice process that addresses both past and ongoing human rights violations.
 
For further information, contact Alison Smith, Director Of International Justice, on asmith@npwj.org or Nicola Giovannini, Press & Public Affairs Coordinator, on ngiovannini@npwj.org org.