On Saturday, the Libyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs commented on the UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission’s (FFM) report on violations against migrants. It said that the mission “showed a clear silence towards the efforts made by the officials at the Ministry of Justice in the face of human rights violations.”
In a statement, the Foreign Ministry added that “most of the violations mentioned in the mission’s report were committed during the previous years of war and division, not during the current government, and this was not clarified.”
It also stated that the report “ignored the efforts of the Libyan authorities in combating crime, especially drug trafficking, and prostitution.” It claimed that a large number of irregular migrants are involved in these criminal activities.
The Ministry noted that the FFM should have cited the current improvement in migrant conditions in Libya, compared to previous years.
It indicated that the report “turned a blind eye to the challenges facing the stages of democratic transition, and that the international community was unable to provide effective assistance for comprehensive reform programs for the security and military sectors in Libya.”
The Ministry pointed out that “the work of international and UN diplomatic missions in all regions of Libya contradicts what was stated in the report about the limited places allocated to the United Nations Support Mission (UNSMIL).”
Notably, the FFM expressed its deep concerns over the country’s deteriorating human rights situation.
In its final report, the Mission stated that “there are grounds to believe a wide array of war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed by state security forces and armed militia groups.”
It noted that investigations “documented numerous cases of arbitrary detention, murder, rape, enslavement, extrajudicial killing, and enforced disappearance.” As well as noting that nearly all survivors interviewed had refrained from lodging official complaints, out of fear of reprisals, arrest, extortion, and a lack of confidence in the justice system.
“Migrants, in particular, have been targeted and there is overwhelming evidence that they have been systematically tortured. The report said there were reasonable grounds to believe that sexual slavery, a crime against humanity, was committed against migrants,” the statement added.
