On Tuesday, officials of Libya’s Ministry of the Interior met with a European Union delegation, to discuss training plans for Tourist Police and Antiquities Protection through the EU’s affiliated organizations.
This came in a meeting held at the Ministry of the Interior in Tripoli. It was attended by the Head of the Office of Communication and International Cooperation, the Head of the Follow-up and Performance Evaluation Department in the Office of the Minister of Interior, a representative of the Tourist Police Agency and representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Earlier this month, Italian Member of the European Parliament (MEP), Giuliano Pisapia said that the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Commission has finally approved an important document on the precarious situation in Libya.
Pisapia noted that the text, of which he was rapporteur, puts “respect for democratic principles, human rights, and the rule of law at the center of our political action in Libya.”
“For too long in Libya, rights have been ferociously trampled, civil society is brutally repressed, and those who cross the Libyan borders in search of a better future are tortured, raped, and incarcerated in detention camps where all rights are denied,” he said.
“Precisely for this reason, in the approved text, it is expressly requested that the European Union appoint as soon as possible, an EU Special Representative for Libya. One who actively supports the Libyan national reconciliation process, the prerequisite for which must be the withdrawal of all armed groups and foreign forces. As well as the drafting of a democratic constitution and the holding of free and fair elections, monitored by UN and EU electoral missions. Fundamental freedoms must be fully guaranteed, those who have suffered serious violations must finally obtain justice and the death penalty must be abolished,” Pisapia stressed.
“The text approved by the AFET Commission also deals with the very serious problem of mines and the proliferation of weapons, the rights of women and children, as well as the situation in the shameful detention camps. We need to be more ambitious on the issue of migration. All Member States, without exception, will have to ensure that both search and rescue activities and those of disembarkation and reception are no longer the responsibility of southern countries alone, but are part of an equally shared project,” the MEP noted.