The Libyan Parliament’s Fact-Finding Committee on Violations of International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law held a virtual meeting to discuss the latest report issued by the UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission (FFM).
The meeting was chaired by MP, Youssef Al-Aqouri, and in the presence of committee members Salem Al-Awjali, Ashraf Al-Dous, and Abdul-Wahed Al-Lafi.
Members provided a briefing on the report, and presented their recommendations for work mechanisms regarding the report.
The Parliament said it would issue a statement including the committee’s view of the report.
The meeting also discussed means of coordination with the fact-finding mission of the UN Human Rights Council.
Earlier, the Libyan Parliament expressed its dissatisfaction with the report of the FFM. Especially regarding the immigration and human rights situations in the country.
The Chairman of the Internal Affairs Committee, MP Suleiman Al-Hariri said the report is “biased, lacks objectivity, and deliberately distorts the image of Libya. The report also holds Libya alone responsible for illegal migration flows.”
In a statement published by the Parliament, Al-Hariri added that the report “ignored the difficult conditions that Libya is going through, and the fragility of government institutions. It is difficult for Libyan institutions to provide the needs of hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants in the country.”
The MP held the European Union politically responsible for the migration crisis in Libya. He said that the EU was “focused on rescuing migrants from the sea and returning them to Libya.
This resulted in the accumulation of hundreds of thousands of migrants in Libya, and exacerbated the situation. The EU did this despite the Libyan authorities repeatedly declaring their inability to receive these migrants, and called for transferring them to a third country.”
He also pointed out the absence of the European Union in helping to protect the Libyan borders, especially in the south, where the majority of migrants cross.
Al-Harari stressed that the Anti-Immigration Agency is “facing great difficulties in securing the quality of life and medical care for the continuous flows of immigrants. The weakness of voluntary repatriation and resettlement programs in other countries is also behind the exacerbation of the humanitarian crisis.”
The lawmaker said that the report also ignored the efforts of the Libyan authorities in combating crime, especially drug trafficking and prostitution. He claimed that a large number of irregular migrants are involved in these criminal activities.
“Libya has closed many detention centers that are not under the control of the legal authorities, but the mission’s report did not mention this,” Al-Hariri noted.
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.