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STORY: GENEVA / LIBYA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT
TRT: 03:05
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 25 FEBRUARY 2016 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Aerial shot, exterior, Palais des Nations
2. Wide shot, press room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Gurdip Sangha, Desk Officer Libya for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
”A substantial body of information was gathered, leading to a finding that gross violations of international human right's law, serious violations of international humanitarian law, and serious abuses of human rights have been committed in Libya, many of which may amount to war crimes or other crimes under international law.”
4. Med shot, journalists
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Gurdip Sangha, Desk Officer Libya for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
”The report really focuses on the justice system in Libya, which in many parts of the country is in a state of collapse. Judges, prosecutors, are subject to assassination and have been killed. Courts have been subject to bomb attacks. Prosecutors have been abducted, and it goes into a number of cases in that regard. Some of these attacks have been linked to the detention or release of individuals or to thwart the arrest or prosecution of members.”
6. Pan left, journalists
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Gurdip Sangha, Desk Officer Libya for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
”Journalists have also faced harassment and threats for their reporting and have been subjected to arbitrary detention and have been killed in Libya for reporting on the situation. And I think that is partly why you don't hear that much perhaps on the human rights situation in Libya. And that's partly, that's a reference to the High Commissioner’s quote, where Libya does not find itself in the headlines, in particular the human rights situation does not find itself in the headlines. I mean, many human rights defenders and journalists are targeted for their reporting.”
8. Close up, smartphone
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Gurdip Sangha, Desk Officer Libya for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
”The report also looks at numerous cases of torture and other ill-treatment which have taken case particularly in detention facilities which are controlled either by the state or other armed groups. And it also observes a lack of re-address for cases of torture and other ill-treatment.”
10. Medium shot, journalists
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Gurdip Sangha, Desk Officer Libya for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“The report also looks into the journeys of some of the migrants on dangerously overcrowded and ill equipped boats with also migrants being suffocated on route—on their journeys away from Libya seeking to flee the conditions which they're subjected to.”
12. Close up, eye
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Gurdip Sangha, Desk Officer Libya for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“The report also recommends that urgent action is taken to stop the proliferation of armed groups through disarmament, demobilization, and re-integration, in association with a vetting program to remove and prevent the recruitment of individuals responsible for human rights violations or abuses.”
14. Med shot, journalists
15. Wide shot, press briefing room
Widespread violations and abuses have been committed in Libya by a multitude of state and non-state actors since the beginning of 2014, states a report of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released today in Geneva.
Gurdip Sangha, Desk Officer Libya for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), told reporters ”a substantial body of information was gathered, leading to a finding that gross violations of international human right's law, serious violations of international humanitarian law, and serious abuses of human rights have been committed in Libya, many of which may amount to war crimes or other crimes under international law.”
According to OHCHR, one of the most striking elements of this report lies in the complete impunity which continues to prevail in Libya and the systematic failures of the justice system. Gurdip Sangha said that ”the report really focuses on the justice system in Libya, which in many parts of the country is in a state of collapse. Judges, prosecutors, are subject to assassination and have been killed. Courts have been subject to bomb attacks. Prosecutors have been abducted, and it goes into a number of cases in that regard. Some of these attacks have been linked to the detention or release of individuals or to thwart the arrest or prosecution of members.”
Despite the human rights situation in Libya, the country only sporadically makes the headlines. Gurdip Sangha from OHCHR explained that ”journalists have also faced harassment and threats for their reporting and have been subjected to arbitrary detention and have been killed in Libya for reporting on the situation. And I think that is partly why you don't hear that much perhaps on the human rights situation in Libya. And that's partly, that's a reference to the High Commissioner’s quote, where Libya does not find itself in the headlines, in particular the human rights situation does not find itself in the headlines. I mean, many human rights defenders and journalists are targeted for their reporting.”
Since the 2011 armed conflict, thousands of individuals remain in detention, the vast majority without any proper examination of their cases. According to the report numerous detainees are subject to torture and ill-treatment.
Gurdip Sangha told the reporters that ”the report also looks at numerous cases of torture and other ill- treatment which have taken case particularly in detention facilities which are controlled either by the state or other armed groups. And it also observes a lack of re-address for cases of torture and other ill-treatment.”
Particularly vulnerable to exploitation and abuse by authorities, armed groups and smugglers, many migrants have endured prolonged arbitrary detention, torture, forced labour, extortion, trafficking and sexual violence.
Gurdip Sangha said that “the report also looks into the journeys of some of the migrants on dangerously overcrowded and ill equipped boats with also migrants being suffocated on route—on their journeys away from Libya seeking to flee the conditions which they're subjected to.”
Cases of forced recruitment and use of children in hostilities by groups pledging alliance to ISIL are documented as well.
The report suggests a number of priority actions, which include to address the security threats to administration of justice, reform the Judicial Police and establish a robust victim and witness protection programme.
Gurdip Sangha, Desk Officer Libya for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “The report also recommends that urgent action is taken to stop the proliferation of armed groups through disarmament, demobilization, and re-integration, in association with a vetting program to remove and prevent the recruitment of individuals responsible for human rights violations or abuses.”
The report further calls upon the international community to ensure that the International Criminal Court, which has jurisdiction over Libya, has the necessary resources to carry out its investigations and prosecutions.
The report was prepared on the basis of an investigation established by the High Commissioner pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 28/30.
