The World Peace Organization issued a report describing Libya as a hot spot for human trafficking with numerous incidents of rape, torture, and killing. This has necessitated the formation of an independent United Nations fact-finding mission in June 2020.
The report from the World Peace Organization added that these potential violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law have been reported since 2016. The UN issued a report on the current findings in early April, with information related to the violations and the severe bodily harm inflicted on thousands of people.
The report continued that the mission’s final report will be issued in June. This coincides with the end of the UN Mission’s (UNSMIL) mandate. Investigations have focused on the cities of Bani Walid and Tarhuna, where hundreds of cases of human disappearances dating back to 2015 were recorded.
Head of the fact-finding mission, Mohamed Auajjar spoke of consistent patterns of grave human rights violations against migrants in detention centres.
Ongoing investigations have revealed several graves from evidence collected by various NGO’s, with more information received at other sites.
A lack of budget for training and maintenance of facilities has resulted in a delay in the identification of the human bodies, after their exhumation. The mission was supposed to be completed in October 2021, to be fully renewed for investigation.
According to Auajjar, the mission will be able to announce combined findings, and name those responsible for these allegations in June. The recommendations contained in the interim report called on Libya to end the violence, and strengthen its government judicial systems. As well as requesting the participation of the international community to support development, despite the significant lack of proposed accountability. It also called for allowing safer passage of migrants in Libya, through the use of foreign aid such as documentation systems to establish their identity.
The recommendations included determining where they are being held, and where they are travelling. This will help in reducing the possibility of disappearances, and represents another important step to extend the investigation for at least another year. This is to further document the situation, and determine the success of their accountability protocols.