The United Nations Envoy to Libya, Abdoulaye Bathily received members of the Follow-up Committee on Political Prisoners, representing different communities and regions in Libya.
According to a statement by the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) Bathily “listened to the participant’s views on national reconciliation and transitional justice processes, and concerns over the situation of detainees.”
The UN Envoy stressed the need to hold free, credible and inclusive elections. He recalled the ongoing efforts by the Presidential Council, the African Union, UNSMIL, and other partners on national reconciliation.
He also emphasized the centrality of human rights in the UN’s work with Libyan partners.
In April, a report presented to the UN Security Council noting that over 12,000 detainees are being held in unofficial prisons and detention facilities across Libya. Thousands more are held illegally and often in “inhumane conditions in facilities controlled by armed groups or `secret’ facilities.”
The report monitored the political, security, and economic developments in Libya from December to March. The report also cited official statistics provided by the judicial police, and according to it, “the number of detainees in official detention centers, including those in pretrial detention, amounted to 19,730 as of March.”
UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres said in the report that UNSMIL “continues to document cases of arbitrary detention, torture, sexual violence, and other violations of international law in facilities operated by the government and other groups.”
“Female and male migrants and refugees continued to face heightened risks of rape, sexual harassment, and trafficking by armed groups, transnational smugglers and traffickers. As well as officials from the Directorate for Combating Illegal Migration, which operates under the Ministry of Interior,” he said.
Traffickers have exploited the chaos, and often pack desperate families into ill-equipped rubber or wooden boats that stall and founder along the perilous central Mediterranean route.
