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7934th Security Council Meeting: Situation in Libya
State cooperation with the International Criminal Court was crucial to ensuring justice for victims of mass atrocity crimes committed during 2011 events in Libya, its Chief Prosecutor said today, pressing the Security Council for assistance in the arrest and surrender of those allegedly responsible.
“We all have our respective roles to play and we must deliver on our joint commitment to end impunity for Rome Statute crimes in Libya,” said Fatou Bensouda, presenting her thirteenth report on the situation.
Indeed, she said, the arrest warrant against Al-Tuhamy Mohamed Khaled, former head of the Internal Security Agency under Muammar Gaddafi, had recently been made public. Her Office alleged that he was responsible for the crimes against humanity of imprisonment, persecution and torture, as well as the war crimes of torture, cruel treatment and outrages upon personal dignity. Amid reports that Mr. Al-Tuhamy was residing in Libya, she urged all States to take immediate action to verify his whereabouts and facilitate his arrest.
She also renewed her call on the Government of National Accord to take steps to transfer Saif al-Islam Gaddafi to its custody so that Libya could surrender him to the Court, in line with its international legal obligations. With the case of Abdulah al-Senussi on appeal before the Libyan Supreme Court, she said a 21 February report by the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) had found that the trial had fallen short of international fair trial standards.
She expressed alarm over reports that migrants were being held in inhumane conditions, with killings, rape and torture allegedly commonplace, and over credible accounts that Libya had become a marketplace for human trafficking. Her Office was exploring the possibility of an investigation into migrant-related crimes. However, without adequate resources, its work had been hampered and its ability to impact the climate of impunity diminished. She pressed the Council to support efforts aimed at providing it with financial assistance.
In the ensuing debate, delegates commended Libya’s Prosecutor-General for its cooperation with the Court, decrying that worsening security conditions had hampered criminal investigations. Several underscored the need for stronger domestic institutions and commitment by factious political groups to create an environment for reconciliation. Justice must be a priority, several said, with the United Kingdom’s delegate urging relevant actors to help the Prosecutor-General build the rule of law.
Italy’s delegate expressed hope that security conditions would improve enough for the Prosecutor to visit Libyan territory. “Trafficking must not only be stopped,” he said. “Traffickers must be brought to justice and punished”.
Egypt’s delegate said the Prosecutor must seek information from reliable sources on the true nature of crimes committed. The Court should not focus entirely on crimes allegedly committed by one party or faction. It must investigate all crimes under its mandate, including by terrorist groups that received support from certain States.
Along similar lines, the representative of the Russian Federation cited the unsealing of indictments as proof of a “lopsided approach”. The Court lacked a desire to investigate all parties, including rebels, and shied away from looking into civilian casualties caused by North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) airstrikes. The report also lacked “the slightest hint” of crimes committed by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh). The only way to move from crisis to unification was through the broadest possible inter-Libyan dialogue, under the auspices of the United Nations and with participation by regional players.
In that context, France’s delegate acknowledged the Court’s desire to broaden its work to include crimes committed since 2011 and those allegedly committed by terrorist groups, as well as crimes related to the trafficking of persons. The representative of the United States, meanwhile, expressed support for the political agreement framework.
Libya’s representative pointed to complementarity between the national courts and the International Criminal Court in fighting impunity, stressing that delays in prosecutions had been due to the security situation. To ensure justice for all, he urged support for the Government of National Accord, as well as for the army and police as they worked to extend State authority across all territories.
The humanitarian situation of illegal immigrants in Libya was indeed tragic, he said, but also the direct result of insecurity and the spread of militias and armed groups. In future reports, he hoped to see information on efforts under way to fight human trafficking in both the north and south Mediterranean.
Also speaking today were representatives of Sweden, Bolivia, Senegal, Ukraine, Japan, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, China and Uruguay.
The meeting began at 3 p.m. and ended at 4:43 p.m.
