Dr Chaloka Beyani has been appointed to a new UN Fact-Finding Mission on Libya. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said the deteriorating security situation in Libya and the absence of a functioning judicial system underscored the importance of the work of a team of independent experts to document human rights violations and abuses. The experts will be Mohamed Auajjar (Morocco), Tracy Robinson (Jamaica) and Chaloka Beyani (Zambia and UK). The Fact-Finding Mission on Libya was established by the Human Rights Council on 22 June 2020, inter alia, to document alleged violations and abuses of international human rights law and international humanitarian law by all parties in Libya since the start of 2016.
“This body of experts will serve as an essential mechanism to effectively address the widespread impunity for human rights violations and abuses committed, and can also serve as a deterrent to prevent further violations and contribute to peace and stability in the country,” said Bachelet. Summary executions and other unlawful killings, torture and ill-treatment, gender-based violence, including conflict-related sexual violence, abductions, enforced disappearances, as well as incitement to violence on social media, continue to be committed in a climate of complete impunity, Bachelet said. She added that human rights defenders, activists and journalists have also been attacked and have fled the country. The Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Libya will provide an oral update at the Human Rights Council in September 2020. A comprehensive written report on the situation of human rights in Libya, including on efforts to prevent and ensure accountability for violations and abuses of human rights with recommendations, will follow in 2021.