FFM Libya Press conference 27 March 2023

UNOG-RUSH-NEWS Libya Presser 27MAR2023 Continuity

1:00:43

MP4

3.8 GB

27-03-2023

Edited News , Press Conferences | OHCHR

FFM Libya Press conference 27 March 2023

ENG

Shotlist Story

STORY: Fact-finding Mission Libya

TRT: 3:31”

SOURCE: UNTV CH

RESTRICTIONS: NONE

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/NATS

ASPECT RATIO: 16:9

DATELINE: 27 March 2023 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

SHOTLIST

Medium shot, UN Geneva flag alley.
Wide shot, press room with speakers at the podium

SOUNDBITE (Arabic) – Mohamed Auajjar, Chair of the Libya Fact-Finding Mission: “The FFM on Libya has found reasonable ground to believe that crimes against humanity were committed against Libyan civilians and migrants who were deprived of their liberties throughout Libya since 2016”.
Close up, photographer
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) – Mohamed Auajjar, Chair of the Libya Fact-Finding Mission: “The Commission finalized its assessment of the evidence in the treatment of migrants. The mission has proven that it had enough reasons to believe that sexual slavery which is also a crime against humanity was committed against migrants”.
Medium shot, journalist taking notes
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) - Mohamed Auajjar, Chair of the Libya Fact-Finding Mission: ”The mission found that crimes against humanity have been committed against migrants in detention, and which are under the actual or nominal control of Anti-illegal Immigration Agency, the Libyan port guard and the Stability Support Apparatus, these entities received technical, logistical and financial support from the EU and from the EU member countries in order to intercept the paths of migrants and to bring them back home”.
Wide shot, speakers at the podium with photographer
SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – Chaloka Beyani, Member of the Libya Fact-Finding Mission: “The support given by the EU to the Libyan coast guard in terms of pullbacks, pushbacks, interceptions, lead to violations of certain human rights. Non-refoulement, for example- you can’t push people back to areas that are unsafe, and the Libyan waters are unsafe for embarkation of migrants, quite clearly”.
Wide shot, speakers at the podium with photographer
SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) - Tracy Robinson, Member of the Libya Fact-Finding Mission: “We have found instances of enslavement, of persons who have been traded to outside entities, to perform various services, but also sexual slavery of women of in and around detention centers. The findings in respect of both are new for the FFM and represents, I think, a very significant set of violations which we had not been able to establish in our previous reporting cycles”.

Wide shot, speakers at podium with journalists
SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – Chaloka Beyani, Member of the Libya Fact-Finding Mission: “Our focus was on the victims, and the measures that needed to be taken in relation to the victims. So taking that line in the context of violations, in the context of the State-building project in Libya which is what it is- it’s the collapse of the state of Libya that has led to these violations and, therefore, for the International community, the Fact-Finding Mission has laid out bare facts and bare findings”.
Medium shot, three Commissioners at the podium
Close up, hands writing on paper
Medium shot, journalists with screen on the side

Libya: Crimes against humanity and widescale exploitation of migrants

The UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Libya on Monday expressed deep concern in its final report about the country’s deteriorating human rights situation. The human rights investigators said that there are grounds to believe that Libyan authorities and armed militia groups have been responsible for “a wide array of war crimes, and crimes against humanity” in recent years.

“The FFM on Libya has found reasonable ground to believe that crimes against humanity were committed against Libyan civilians and migrants who were deprived of their liberties throughout Libya since 2016,” said Mr. Mohamed Auajjar, Chair of the Libya Fact-Finding Mission, when talking to the media at the United Nations in Geneva.

Libya has been in turmoil since former long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi was ousted leaving the country divided between a UN-recognized Government of National Accord based in the capital Tripoli and the forces of General Khalifa Haftar’s self-styled Libyan National Army which holds sway in the east and southern areas of the country.

Migrants, in particular, have been targeted and there is overwhelming evidence that they have been systematically tortured, the report indicated.

“The Commission finalized its assessment of the evidence in the treatment of migrants,” said Mr. Auajjar. “The Mission has proven that it had enough reasons to believe that sexual slavery which is also a crime against humanity was committed against migrants.”

The Chair of the Fact-Finding mission also said that ”the Mission found that crimes against humanity have been committed against migrants in detention, and which are under the actual or nominal control of the Anti-illegal Immigration Agency, the Libyan port and the Stability Support Apparatus. He added that “these entities received technical, logistical and financial support from the EU and from the EU member countries in order to intercept the paths of migrants and to bring them back home.”

The Mission also expressed its concern about the role of the EU. “The support given by the EU to the Libyan coast guard in terms of pullbacks, pushbacks, interceptions, lead to violations of certain human rights,” said Chaloka Beyani. “Non-refoulement, for example, you can’t push people back to areas that are unsafe, and the Libyan waters are unsafe for embarkation of migrants, quite clearly.”

The report said that detainees were subjected regularly to torture, solitary confinement, held incommunicado and denied adequate access. It documents the “widespread practice” of arbitrary detention, murder, torture, rape, enslavement and enforced disappearance in the country. The Mission states for the first time that sexual slavery was committed against migrants in official detention centres and in secret prisons, amid rampant impunity.

“We have found instances of enslavement, of persons who have been traded to outside entities, to perform various services, but also sexual slavery of women of in and around detention centres,” said Tracy Robinson, Member of the Libya Fact-Finding Mission (FFM). “The findings in respect of both are new for the FFM and represents, I think, a very significant set of violations which we had not been able to establish in our previous reporting cycles.”

Established by the Human Rights Council in 2020 to look investigate human rights violation by all parties since the beginning of 2016, the FFM has undertaken 13 missions and conducted more than 400 interviews. It has also collected more than 2,800 items of information, including photograph and audiovisual imagery. To strengthen accountability, the FFM will share material with the International Criminal Court and other findings that it has collected throughout its mandate.

“Our focus was on the victims and the measures that needed to be taken in relation to the victims,” Mr. Beyani said. “So taking that line in the context of violations, in the context of the State-building project in Libya which is what it is - it’s the collapse of the State of Libya that has led to these violations and, therefore, for the International community - the Fact-Finding Mission has laid out bare facts and bare findings.”

With its mandate coming to an end next week, the Mission called on the Human Rights Council to establish a new monitoring and investigating mechanism for Libya.

-ends-

Teleprompter

[Other language spoken]

A very warm welcome to all of you.

Thank you very much for joining us today, this press conference at the Paladinacion in Geneva.

We're pleased to have with us here today all three members of the independent fact finding mission on Libya who wanted to take this opportunity to share with you the findings of their final report.

The Chair of the Commission is in the centre, Mr Mohammed Ojar, and to his left is Miss Tracy Robinson and just to my left is Chaloka Biani.

As you may know, the fact finding mission on Libya was created by the Human Rights Council in June of 2020 and the report they're released, releasing today, will be the last one of their mandate.

I should note that we've just shared the press release on this report with you in English and Arabic, as well as the report and the detailed findings contained in the conference room paper.

This report will officially be presented to the Human Rights Council during their interactive dialogue, which I believe is on Friday.

And now I'll turn immediately to Mr Ozhar for opening remarks in English in Arabic with English translation.

And for those of you in the room, Channel 2 is English and Channel 7 will be in Arabic.

So now over to you, Mr.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you, Todd.

[Other language spoken]

Letiza Mata, what was that Bourbon marculet and lilla tecad en algerima de Dal insenia al muta mathe la Felicia bed diligency fibeni Walid Washington sabrata atna or wilaya tilbet.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you, Chairman, for those opening remarks.

Now we'll open the floor to questions.

We'll take those in the room First.

If you could please just identify yourself in the media outlet you work for.

News Agency, Firstly, I would like to ask the President of the mission or the other members of the mission, what do you does it mean for you that so many state security entities are involved with abuses and violations of human rights that you characterise also as crimes of against humanity?

And secondly, if you can comment on what is the probability of accountability in the context of a country which is divided with different authorities, de facto or recognised authorities.

So what is the possibility for accountability?

And for you, how do you see the path forward in the case that this case arrived to the to the International Criminal Gov Thank you.

Well, thank you very much for your questions, Spanish news agency.

First of all, what does it mean when so many state agencies are involved in crimes against humanity?

The first line of responsibility is obviously that the state itself and its apparatus are held responsible and accountable because of the degree of involvement of the state.

I think that is very much true of human rights violations in terms of crimes against humanity.

Then we have to look at the individuals who are employed by those state agencies, since this constitutes individual criminal responsibility, the leadership of the agencies involved and the actual perpetrators.

And the effective control that they exercised in relation to, you know, certain facilities at their disposal.

The prospect of accountability obviously is real.

Much depends on what happens and what the United Nations decides to do with the evidence that we have gathered.

But in situations where you have a country that is divided, then we look into the respective effective control by the entities in the respective areas of division of the country and attributing responsibility to those entities who control specific areas of the country such as the West or in and around Tripoli.

It's just that you said that you couldn't go to the South of the country.

And I would like to know what do you fear that is happening in the South of the country?

[Other language spoken]

Yes, we did not go, but there is obviously remote investigation by which we're able to gather what's what's happening.

We also spoke to some of the victims, you know, from from the South.

And quite clearly, as in other parts of Libya, the issue of displacement in the South is quite huge.

The questions of sexual slavery and enslavement, particularly around Sabah, those were clearly identified by the mission.

So the lack of access and transparency in relation to the South clearly shows that there is something that those who control the South did not want the Libya fact finding mission to find out.

[Other language spoken]

This is something that has exercised our investigation from the very outset.

And so the support given by the EU to the Libyan Coast Guard in terms of pull backs, push backs, interceptions lead to violations of certain human rights.

Non reformer, for example, you can't push people back to areas that are unsafe and the Libyan waters are unsafe for invocation of migrants.

[Other language spoken]

It's also clear that the DCIM has responsibility for multitudes of crimes against humanity in the detention centres that they run.

So the support given to them by the EU has facilitated this, although we're not saying that the EU and its member states have committed these crimes.

The point is that the support given has aided and abated the admission of the crimes.

[Other language spoken]

OK, we'll take another one from the room on the left side, please, Please go ahead.

[Other language spoken]

Yes, I'm yes Pedro from Agence France Press in Geneva.

My first question, my initial question was the one of my colleagues.

[Other language spoken]

So, so you, you say that the, the support given by the EU has facilitated what is happening and in front of of the justice, how do you think you would qualify the responsibility of the European countries?

Do you think this could be held accountable?

And then on your visits, I didn't understand exactly which part of the country you were able to visit and if you have been able to, to to go inside detention centres.

[Other language spoken]

In the context of the responsibility of the EU and the Member States, our mandate was to investigate violations of human rights and international humanitarian law on the territory of Libya, but that also obviously includes the maritime waters of of Libya.

The holding of responsibility for member states of the EU is happening elsewhere.

You may be aware that there's pending before the European Court of Human Rights a case known as SS versus Italy, which seeks to establish the responsibility of, of Italy for giving assistance to the Libyan Coast Guard and for acts committed by the Libyan Coast Guard.

So we think that that's where attribution and responsibility and accountability will lie.

But in the report, we had to highlight this clearly as a matter that we found and which concerned us in relation to the treatment of of of migrants and the violation of the rights of migrants and the way in which those rights are are being violated.

[Other language spoken]

OK, any more questions from the room?

OK in the middle.

Agreed battery with the Swiss newspaper answers it concerning the EU.

What are your recommendations what the EU countries should do in this situation?

I mean that they are contribute contributing to crimes against humanity.

[Other language spoken]

I think the essence of our report is that the EU countries have to re examine the support that they give to the Libya Coast Guard and to Libya and to be aware of the fact that crimes against humanity are being committed in that particular context.

So the report itself contains a number of recommendations to Libya, to the international community, and the recommendations to the international community obviously also involve the EU.

[Other language spoken]

Let's go to those of us who are joining us on Zoom.

We'll take a question first from Mohammed Alfinish.

[Other language spoken]

Mohammed, can you hear me?

[Other language spoken]

Yeah, not very clearly, but can you, can you hear me?

I'm not sure if you're there.

[Other language spoken]

Yeah, yeah, he's there.

[Other language spoken]

My questions is going to be in in Arabic because going straight to Mr Jacques.

First of all, thank you for for hard work.

[Other language spoken]

We'll take another question from online from Lauren Ciero from the Swiss News Agency.

[Other language spoken]

Yeah, thank you for taking my question.

So in the report you allude to the to the behaviour of the Wagner Group in 2019 and in 2020.

So what's the situation with Wagner Group since then, based on the interviews that you might have conducted in the recent months in that regard, do you see a reduction of crimes that could be attributed to to the Wagner Group?

And with the war in Ukraine, have some of these Wagner Group members left the country in order maybe to rejoin counterparts in in Ukraine for for the war?

[Other language spoken]

I think the Wagner Group is one that we have investigated throughout the time of the onset of the FFM.

And here the activities obviously include mesmerism and the crimes committed by mesmerise.

And we found in particular that Wagner was responsible for the laying of land mines, some of them very sophisticated, in particular areas, in buildings, in toys that caused death and which have also impeded the return of persons to to places of origin.

So as an entity, they are responsible for those crimes.

You know, beyond that, we did not find that Wagner was actually involved in the actual combat or fighting.

And we're aware of the dynamics involving Wagner in Ukraine, in the Central African Republic as well and elsewhere.

And so that still remains a good line of investigation.

[Other language spoken]

Next we'll go to Yuri on Zoom.

Yes, and thank you for taking my question.

Do you think that the former French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the French officials who carried out the bombing illegally to bring down Gaddafi are responsible for the current situation in the country?

[Other language spoken]

Actually, that's beyond our mandate because our mandate is to investigate violations from 2016 and note acts that had occurred before then.

[Other language spoken]

Hello, everyone.

I'd like to know, I'm not clear on whether you shared the report with the government or not, did you?

And if so, what response of any did you get from them?

And I'm wondering whether there is really any realistic hope of holding the state accountable for violations that have been committed.

[Other language spoken]

And perhaps naively, but I asked the question anyway, have you been able to have any kind of a contact with any of the armed groups or is that absolutely impossible?

And you got your information from witness testimonies and so forth?

[Other language spoken]

Lisa, you asked whether the report has been shared with the government and it has.

We haven't received their response yet, but typically we will during the interactive dialogue, which is scheduled for Friday of this week.

The question of holding the state accountable and those responsible for violations in Libya is of course, one of the most important ones coming out of the work of the FFM.

And it's one of the reasons why the FFM has given such attention to questions of the rule of law and judicial independence in this final report as well.

We think that there has to be substantial strengthening of of the administration of justice as well as judicial independence to contemplate the possibility of questions of accountability within Libya.

But as the as the Chair has also mentioned, we have emphasised or interest in cooperating with others and including, in this instance, the ICC, to share information which we have gathered during the course of the three years.

To ensure that accountability is considered in other contexts as well, or evidence is primarily from witnesses who have experienced violations and in some instances, persons who have been close to the violations themselves.

That evidence has been gathered in Libya and outside from persons who are now residing outside of Libya.

But we've received important information from a variety of sources which forms part of these reports.

OK, thank you, Tracy.

We'll take another question from the room on the left side.

[Other language spoken]

This time I would like to ask you about the sexual slavery that you are documenting.

Documenting in the report.

I would like to ask if you can tell us more about this, if the people are traded and if yes, if they are traded only inside Libya or also outside the country.

What can you tell us more about the this?

If this is only a system inside the centre of the tensions, just because people want to torture others or it is something major.

[Other language spoken]

I think perhaps first to indicate that we've made findings of enslavement generally as well as sexual slavery.

So we've found instances of enslavement of persons who have been traded to outside entities to perform various services, but also sexual slavery of women in and around detention centres.

The findings in respect of both are new for the FFM and represents I think a very significant set of violations which we had not been able to establish in our previous reporting cycles.

And so I think it's important to see both the sexual sexual slavery as well as general enslavement as critical new findings in this report.

If I may, a follow up, the sexual savoury is concerning mainly women or as well men.

Findings were in respect of women, but more generally, throughout Libya we have phoned sexual violence of men, particularly men who have been dissenting in terms of political views, in terms of who they are understood to be.

They have been subjected to sexual violence throughout the period of the Mandate from 2016 onwards as well of, of of course, women.

And we have had these findings both in respect of migrants and Libyans in the context of arbitrary detention.

OK, thank you, Tracy.

We'll take another question from the room in the far back.

[Other language spoken]

With that one, Finnie headed to clear much more to wheel.

[Other language spoken]

Venezuela mushtama adoli well on mutaheda Yanin Alam antastor al Amelia sia sia Philippia I don't know what 1 tower wrote bad al otrov Adolian well is the further mimaya Sol al al Art Philippia.

The establishment of the FFM is an expression of the international community and its way to find out what's going on in Libya and how to establish responsibility and accountability with a view to remedying what has happened in the past and to build a democratic Libya that fully respects human rights and the rule of law.

That is the key interest and the key question that underlies our investigation and our work in this regard.

So we hope that the recommendations are a blueprint for future action, that they are a record of what needs to be done in order to restore the situation in Libya, as Libya is moving towards transitional justice, accountability and hopefully elections, restoration of democracy.

You know, those are virtues that will be aided by our reports and the findings that we have met in the context of fundamental rights, the freedoms that are keen to public participation, to elections, self determination and of course the protection of civil society as well.

So the alarm bell has been rung and sent the international community and hopefully the international community will act on the findings.

We do also recommend that the international community establishes an international mechanism to follow up on the recommendations and the work of the FFM and also the Office of the **** Commissioner to establish its own mechanism to investigate these and take them further.

[Other language spoken]

We'll take another question online from Emma Farge of Reuters.

[Other language spoken]

Follow up to Mr Shalaka, please.

Do you have any reason to believe that the alarm bell that you've rung has been heard?

I'm thinking about the fact that country specific resolutions, for example at the Council are very unpopular right now.

Do you think there is political will and and who might pick it up?

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much Emma for your question.

I think the alarm bell has been heard and heard loudly and very clearly by the international community in the Human Rights Council.

And above all, as we stated at the very outset, our focus was on the victims and the measures that needed to be taken in relation to to the victims.

So taking that line in the context of violations, in the context of the State Building project in Libya, which is what it is, it's the collapse of the state of Libya that has led to these violations.

And therefore for the international community, the fact finding mission has laid out bare facts and bare findings of the gravity of the situation.

The alarm bell is being held within the Human Rights Council, you know, clearly.

But what happens after this, of course, will indicate the strength of the will of the international community and also of Libya, you know, to act that we really can't try and prophesize in the future.

But so far as we speak to different entities, we do find that the political will does exist.

It's a question of how does that political will get exercised and implemented.

Even as we went to Libya in January and spoke to some of the government officials, including ministers directly, they did not contradict the the findings.

They did not actually say they didn't find the work useful.

I think they they appreciated it.

If anything, they say if we want you to continue with your work and others say we want you to continue to hold us to account for what's happening in Libya because they see that accountability and responsibility of the perpetrators is the way forward for the country.

[Other language spoken]

You mentioned that I believe there are thousands of migrants from 41 countries, 41 nationalities.

Where are they mainly coming from?

Are most of them from Africa?

How many migrants and asylum seekers are being detained currently, your latest figures?

And is there any kind of a discrimination among the nationalities in terms of which ones are more likely to be detained than others?

[Other language spoken]

Leap year is geographically placed obviously.

And For these reasons, migrants come from all over.

They're migrants from West Africa, they're migrants from East Africa and we use the term migrants in an inclusive way, which obviously involves asylum seekers and those that are refugees or at least would qualify for protection as refugees.

They're also persons from as far as Afghanistan coming through Libya.

But what we find is that in terms of in terms of treatment, it's much more the traffickers and what they charge for specific migrants.

So those coming from East Africa, for example, attract a higher price in terms of smuggling and trafficking than those coming from West Africa.

The perception is that perhaps they have a lot more money in this regard.

So smuggling, trafficking of migrants has become a huge industry in Libya, extortion, making money.

And of course there's a correlation between the poor factor of migrants, the detention of migrants and those benefiting belong to the same lines of of networks thus far is what we have found.

[Other language spoken]

I'd like to read one question we received online from Sami Magdi of The Associated Press.

He had a question regarding EU assistance to Libyan authorities to combat migration and he asked does the EU assistance to authorities in Libya facilitate abuses, crimes against humanity against migrants in detention, detention centres?

I think the question has been answered in relation to someone who posed a similar question, which actually, yes, that's the state of affairs.

[Other language spoken]

All right.

[Other language spoken]

The mility Tresi Robinson was emili.

[Other language spoken]

And that brings us to the end of this press conference.

I see a couple of you had some additional questions.

Please e-mail them to me and we'll try to get those answered for you.

So that's it.

Please have a good day.