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STORY: UN / LIBYA
TRT: 3:30
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ARABIC / ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 24 JANUARY 2022, NEW YORK CITY
FILE – NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, UN headquarters exterior
24 JANUARY 2022, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Rosemary DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, United Nations:
“Clearly, Libyan stakeholders hold different views regarding the path that can take the country to free, fair, inclusive and credible national elections and a peaceful transition. Discussion in the House of Representatives and among political actors is also increasingly focusing on the status of the Government of National Unity (GNU). Special Advisor Williams has reiterated to Libyan interlocutors that the focus of the political process should remain on the holding of parliamentary and presidential elections to be held in the shortest possible timeframe.”
4. Wide shot, delegates at Security Council meeting
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Rosemary DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, United Nations:
“We also welcome renewed efforts, particularly by the Presidency Council, to advance national reconciliation based on the principles of transitional justice. Together with the African Union, we remain committed to support a rights-based reconciliation process, which should advance in parallel to the ongoing Libyan owned and Libyan-led dialogue tracks.”
6. Wide shot, DiCarlo at Security Council meeting
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Rosemary DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, United Nations:
“Libya is at a delicate and fragile juncture in its path to unity and stability. We welcome and support the positive developments taking place across the three intra-Libyan dialogue tracks and recognize the challenges that must be overcome. We need to collectively nurture these positive steps. It is critical that the international community remains united in its support for elections, guided by the aspirations of the Libyan people to be governed by elected institutions. As so many Libyans have told us, the way towards a stable and united Libya is through the ballot box, not the gun. We must stand with them.”
8. Wide shot, DiCarlo at Security Council meeting
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Elham Saudi, Director, Lawyers for Justice in Libya:
“Given Libya’s accountability deficit, and the wider challenges created by a decade of conflict, Libya’s civil society has had to fill many vacuums. This comes at a high cost. The systematic crackdown on civil society by all parties in Libya, including by the current Government of National Unity, has seen civil society organisations, and especially those working on human rights and peacebuilding, harassed and prevented from carrying out their work. Members of civil society have been threatened, disappeared, tortured, and killed in retaliation for their work or public presence. The Council, as well as Member States who have been supporting Libyan parties, must demand the protection of Libya’s civil society.”
10. Wide shot, Security Council
11. SOUNDBITE (Arabic)Taher M. T. Elsonni, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Libya:
“We reaffirm the importance of Libyan ownership and leadership to any political process. A process which could lead the country to stability and imposing state sovereignty and away from any external direction or interference. Therefore, we call on you to support the sincere national efforts which aim during this period to resolve the challenges we have mentioned to produce holistic Libyan national solution and to end all fragile transition periods; because everyone knows that the solution lays in returning legitimacy to the people through a solid constitutional mechanism which can clarify the shape of the state and its institutions.”
12. Wide shot, Security Council
UN political chief Rosemary DiCarlo noted that Libya is at a “delicate and fragile juncture in its path to unity and stability,” and said, “As so many Libyans have told us, the way towards a stable and united Libya is through the ballot box, not the gun. We must stand with them.”
Addressing the Security Council today (24 Jan), DiCarlo said growing polarization among political actors and disputes over key aspects of the electoral process ultimately resulted in the postponement of the 24 December elections in Libya, despite the advanced stage of technical preparations by the High National Commission for Elections (HNEC).
She said the HNEC referred the matter to the House of Representatives which in turn established a Roadmap Committee to elaborate a new political path towards national elections. She said Committee is delivering its preliminary report today and the Parliament is expected to deliberate on it today or tomorrow.
DiCarlo said newly appointed UN Special Adviser Stephanie Williams has undertaken wide-ranging consultations in Tripoli, Benghazi, Misrata and Sirte. She added, “Clearly, Libyan stakeholders hold different views regarding the path that can take the country to free, fair, inclusive and credible national elections and a peaceful transition. Discussion in the House of Representatives and among political actors is also increasingly focusing on the status of the Government of National Unity (GNU). Special Advisor Williams has reiterated to Libyan interlocutors that the focus of the political process should remain on the holding of parliamentary and presidential elections to be held in the shortest possible timeframe.”
The UN political chief said Special Adviser Williams highlighted the 2.8 million Libyans who have registered to vote in all her meetings and called on all stakeholders to respect the will of the Libyan people. Williams stressed that it was critical for the international community to remain united in its support for the timely holding of presidential and parliamentary elections.
DiCarlo welcome the ongoing dialogue initiatives among political, security and economic actors from across Libya. She also welcomed “renewed efforts, particularly by the Presidency Council, to advance national reconciliation based on the principles of transitional justice.” She said, “Together with the African Union, we remain committed to support a rights-based reconciliation process, which should advance in parallel to the ongoing Libyan owned and Libyan-led dialogue tracks.”
The UN official said the ceasefire in Libya has continued to hold, however, political uncertainty in the run up to the elections negatively impacted the overall security situation. She added that the human rights situation in the country remains very worrying.
In closing, DiCarlo said the UN welcomes and supports the positive developments taking place across the three intra-Libyan dialogue tracks and recognize the challenges that must be overcome. She said, “We need to collectively nurture these positive steps. It is critical that the international community remains united in its support for elections, guided by the aspirations of the Libyan people to be governed by elected institutions.”
Elham Saudi, Director of Lawyers for Justice in Libya, said, under UN auspices, hostilities in Tripoli have ended, a fragile ceasefire has been adopted, a unity government has been appointed and a road map to elections has been drafted, but this invaluable progress is reversible as long as impunity prevails for crimes and violations.
Saudi said poorly defined, and fundamentally weak, vetting criteria applied to candidates in the delayed elections, resulted in individuals implicated in corruption, war crimes, crimes against humanity and human rights violations, including persons who have been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) or who have command responsibility over persons indicted by the Court, being accepted as candidates.
The Director of Lawyers for Justice in Libya said, “Given Libya’s accountability deficit, and the wider challenges created by a decade of conflict, Libya’s civil society has had to fill many vacuums. This comes at a high cost. The systematic crackdown on civil society by all parties in Libya, including by the current Government of National Unity, has seen civil society organisations, and especially those working on human rights and peacebuilding, harassed and prevented from carrying out their work. Members of civil society have been threatened, disappeared, tortured, and killed in retaliation for their work or public presence. The Council, as well as Member States who have been supporting Libyan parties, must demand the protection of Libya’s civil society.”
Saudi hoped that the next civil society representative who briefs the Security Council would be able to take their rightful seat at the Council and speak out without having the threat of reprisals be a factor in their decision to do so.
Libyan ambassador Taher Elsonni said the Council’s meeting today was supposed to focus on the election results and moving forward to a new phase one month after the election which was set for 24 December, but instead 2.5 million Libyans have been disappointed amid the absence of true agreement and political maneuvering among the parties, as well as many external interference.
He said, to avoid a political vacuum, the Government of National Unity reaffirms its commitment to a democratic transfer of authority to elected bodies once new election dates are set as soon as possible.
Elsonni said, “We reaffirm the importance of Libyan ownership and leadership to any political process. A process which could lead the country to stability and imposing state sovereignty and away from any external direction or interference. Therefore, we call on you to support the sincere national efforts which aim during this period to resolve the challenges we have mentioned to produce holistic Libyan national solution and to end all fragile transition periods; because everyone knows that the solution lays in returning legitimacy to the people through a solid constitutional mechanism which can clarify the shape of the state and its institutions.”
The Libyan ambassador said his Government looks forward to a positive role by the Security Council towards supports an agreement among Libyans and towards working to end all outside interference in Libya and correcting past mistakes.
