A United Nations (UN) investigation has found Libya’s warring sides have committed violations that may include war crimes and crimes against humanity since 2016, reported UN News.
According to the Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Libya, commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council, migrants, detainees, and other vulnerable minorities including LGBTQ individuals were mainly exposed to violations.
“There are reasonable grounds to believe that war crimes have been committed in Libya, while violence perpetrated in prisons and against migrants there may amount to crimes against humanity,” the mission said in a statement.
The report listed numerous grave rights violations, from arbitrary detention to torture, the recruitment of child soldiers, and mass killings, that had impacted the country’s people and which gave the investigation mission reasonable grounds for the war crimes allegations. Another violation of international law included the recruitment of innocent children to fight.
As per the UN mission report, civilians were particularly at risk during the 2019-2020 conflict for the capital Tripoli and during other violent incidents that have marred the country since 2016 including attacks on schools, migration detention centers, hospitals, and communities at large.
Mohamed Auajjar, who led the UN mission, said all parties to the conflicts, including third states, foreign fighters, and mercenaries have violated international humanitarian law, particularly the principles of proportionality and distinction, as well as committed war crimes.
The investigators published their findings after reviewing hundreds of documents and interviewing more than 150 individuals, alongside parallel research in Libya, Tunisia, and Italy.
The UN mission said it had identified Libyan and foreign individuals and groups who might be responsible for the violations, abuses, and crimes. The list, however, has been kept confidential until it gets shared with appropriate accountability mechanisms.
Mr. Auajjar urged the Libyan government to intensify its efforts to hold those responsible to account.
