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GENEVA (AP) U.N.-backed human rights experts said Monday there is evidence that crimes against humanity have been committed against Libyans and migrants in chaos-stricken Libya, including women being forced into sexual slavery.

The investigators commissioned by the U.N.-backed Human Rights Council also faulted the European Union for sending support to Libyan forces that they say contributed to crimes against migrants and Libyans, and called on EU authorities to review their policies toward Libya.

The findings come in an extensive new report, based on interviews with hundreds of people, including migrants and witnesses, that wraps up a fact-finding mission created nearly three years ago to investigate rights violations and abuses in the North African country. The mission shared its findings with the International Criminal Court.

Oil-rich but largely lawless Libya has in recent years emerged as the dominant transit point for migrants seeking a better quality of life in Europe. A ctivists have long decried horrible conditions faced by migrants who were trafficked and smuggled across the Mediterranean.

Spokespersons for the government in the capital of Tripoli, which works in western Libya, and the forces of a powerful commander that controls eastern and southern Libya, were not immediately available for comment.

The investigators found reasonable grounds to believe that crimes against humanity were committed against Libyans and migrants throughout Libya, said Mohamed Auajjar, the head of the fact-finding mission. Speaking in Arabic through a translator at a news conference in Geneva, he said his team unearthed numerous cases of arbitrary detention, murder, torture, rape, enslavement, sexual enslavement and enforced disappearance.

The Libyan coast guard, which has received training and equipment from the EU, has worked in close coordination with trafficking networks in Libya, the report said. The wide-scale exploitation of vulnerable, irregular migrants churned up significant revenue that spurred continued rights violations, it said.

The support given by the EU to the Libyan coast guard in terms of pull-backs, pushbacks, (and) interceptions led to violations of certain human rights, said investigator Chaloka Beyani. You cant push back people to areas that are unsafe, and the Libyan waters are unsafe for the embarkation of migrants.

He said the European bloc and its member states werent found to be responsible for war crimes, but the support given has aided and abetted the commission of the crimes.

European Commission spokesman Peter Stano told reporters Monday that the EU did not fund the Libyan coast guard nor any other entity in Libya, adding that the EU assistance was meant to improve their performance.

We are providing assistance to help them improve their performance when it comes to search and rescue, be it with vessels, be it with equipment, or previously training with a focus exactly on human rights, he said.

The investigators documented enslavement, rape at times at gunpoint and other sexual abuse against women and men, including by guards working both for state authorities and trafficking groups.

Investigators cited evidence of crimes against humanity in prisons in parts of eastern Libya controlled by forces of commander Khalifa Hifter, as well as in areas controlled by an umbrella group of militias led by Abdel-Ghani al-Kikli, an infamous warlord known as Gheniwa in the capital, Tripoli.

The U.N. migration agency, in its latest report published in mid-March, tallied nearly 700,000 migrants with 42 nationalities in Libya as of the end of last year. The investigators said the situation of human rights has been getting worse.

The missions mandate is ending when the human rights situation in Libya is deteriorating, parallel State authorities are emerging, and the legislative, executive and security sector reforms needed to uphold the rule of law and unify the country are far from being realized, it said.

Libya was plunged into turmoil after a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 toppled longtime autocrat Moammar Gadhafi, who was later killed, and left the country divided between rival governments on the east and west. The United Nations has been struggling to try to shepherd the country toward new elections.

The International Criminal Court has an ongoing investigation in Libya that was originally called for by the U.N. Security Council during the upheaval that led to Gadhafis ouster. In November, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said his office had joined a coalition of nations investigating human trafficking in the country.

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Magdy reported from Cairo. Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed to this report.

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UN-backed probe cites crimes against humanity in Libya - The Associated Press

Fact-finding mission says state security forces and armed militia groups have committed a wide array of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

United Nations investigators say there is evidence that crimes against humanity have been committed against Libyans and migrants stuck in Libya, including women being forced into sexual slavery.

The investigators commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council also faulted the European Union for sending support to Libyan forces that they say contributed to crimes against migrants and Libyans.

Investigators said they are deeply concerned by the deteriorating human rights situation in war-scarred Libya, noting there are grounds to believe a wide array of war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed by state security forces and armed militia groups.

Their findings come in an extensive new report, based on interviews with hundreds of people, including migrants and witnesses, that wraps up a fact-finding mission created nearly three years ago to probe rights violations and abuses in the North African country.

The investigators said they collected at least 2,800 items of information documenting numerous cases of arbitrary detention, murder, torture, rape, enslavement, sexual slavery, extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances that confirmed their widespread practice in Libya.

It is clear that there was a pattern of violation of human rights and international humanitarian law. Particularly in places of detention as well as in relation to migrants, investigator Chaloka Beyani told Al Jazeera.

Libya has in recent years emerged as the dominant transit point for refugees and migrants from Africa and the Middle East who are seeking to reach Europe. Human rights groups and activists have long decried the horrible conditions these people are facing.

During the probe into alleged human trafficking and smuggling, the investigators found there are reasonable grounds to believe that migrants across Libya are victims of crimes against humanity and that acts of murder, enforced disappearance, torture, enslavement, sexual violence, rape and other inhumane acts are committed in connection with their arbitrary detention, the report said.

It specifically cited the Libyan coastguard, which has been supported by the EU over the years.

The support given by the EU to the Libyan coastguard in terms of pull-backs, pushbacks, (and) interceptions led to violations of certain human rights, said Beyani. You cant push back people to areas that are unsafe, and the Libyan waters are unsafe for the embarkation of migrants.

He said the European bloc and its member states were not found to be responsible for war crimes, but the support given has aided and abetted the commission of the crimes.

The investigators also expressed concern about the deprivation of liberty of Libyans and migrants throughout the country, in what they said could also amount to crimes against humanity.

They found numerous cases of arbitrary detention, murder, torture, rape, enslavement, sexual slavery, extrajudicial killing and enforced disappearance throughout Libya.

People held in detention were regularly subjected to torture, solitary confinement, held incommunicado, and denied adequate access to water, food, toilets, sanitation, light, exercise, medical care, legal counsel, and communication with family members, the investigators said.

But they said nearly all the survivors they interviewed did not lodge official complaints out of fear of reprisals, arrest, extortion and a lack of confidence in the justice system.

The three-member panel said there was a broad effort by the authorities in Libya to repress dissent by civil society.

The investigation found that Libyan authorities, notably the security sectors, were curtailing the rights to assembly, association, expression, and belief in order to ensure obedience, entrench self-serving values and norms, and punish criticism against authorities and their leadership.

Libya was plunged into turmoil after a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 toppled longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi, who was later killed, and left the country divided between rival governments in the east and west.

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UN mission accuses EU of aiding crimes against humanity in Libya - Al Jazeera English

A United Nations-backed inquiry has found war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed in Libya by security forces and armed militia groups.

The investigators commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council found, "migrants, in particular, have been targeted and there is overwhelming evidence that they have been systematically tortured."

In the report released on Monday, the team of three independent investigators also said they had reasonable grounds to believe that there were incidents of sexual slavery.

"There is an urgent need for accountability to end this pervasive impunity," Mohamed Auajjar, who led the investigation, said.

Investigators said "there are reasonable grounds to believe that migrants across Libya are victims of crimes against humanity and that acts of murder, enforced disappearance, torture, enslavement, sexual violence, rape and other inhumane acts are committed in connection with their arbitrary detention."

It specifically cited the Libyan coast guard, which the European Union has supported over the years, of being responsible for abuses.

"The support given by the EU to the Libyan coast guard in terms of pull-backs, pushbacks, (and) interceptions led to violations of certain human rights," said investigator Chaloka Beyani. "You can't push back people to areas that are unsafe, and the Libyan waters are unsafe for the embarkation of migrants."

The coast guard, has worked "in close coordination" with trafficking networks in Libya, the report said.

The "wide-scale exploitation of vulnerable, irregular migrants" churned up "significant revenue" that spurred continued rights violations, it said.

Beyani added the EU wasn't responsible war crimes, but "the support given has aided and abetted the commission of the crimes."

European Commission spokesman Peter Stano said the EU did not fund the Libyan coast guard "nor any other entity in Libya," adding that the EU assistance was meant to "improve their performance."

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The investigation, officially named the UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Libya, was created nearly three years ago to investigate rights violations and abuses in the North African country.

Its final report are based on interviews with hundreds of people, including migrants and witnesses.

Although migrants bore the brunt of the crimes ordinary Libyans were also targeted as authorities tried to quell dissent by civil society

The report cites cases of "arbitrary detention, murder, torture, rape, enslavement, sexual slavery, extrajudicial killing and enforced disappearance, confirming their widespread practice in Libya".

People detained were regularly subjected to "torture, solitary confinement, held incommunicado, and denied adequate access to water, food, toilets, sanitation, light, exercise, medical care, legal counsel, and communication with family members", the investigators said.

They said evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity would be passed on to the International Criminal Court.

lo/jcg (AP, AFP, Reuters)

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UN-backed probe finds proof of torture, sex slavery in Libya - DW (English)

A UN fact-finding mission has said the European Union "aided and abetted" Libyan authorities' crimes against migrants.

A new report from the UN will be released and presented to the Human Rights Council later this week. According to the report, crimes against humanity were carried out against migrants in detention centres. The report is based on interviews with 400 people including migrants and witnesses, along with photographs and videos.

"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 abetted the commission of the crimes," Chaloka Beyani, one of the independent mission's members, said.

The EU and member states have supported and trained the Libyan coastguard, which returns migrants to detention centres. They have also funded Libyan border management programmes.

The vast majority of people attempting the Mediterranean crossing pass through war-torn Libya. According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), 32,450 people were intercepted by Libyan forces in 2021 and "hauled back to arbitrary detention and abuse" in the country.

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The UN mission said it would pass any evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity to the International Criminal Court. According to the mission, militia groups have carried out murders, rapes, enslavement, judicial killings, and forced disappearances.

The violations and abuses investigated by the mission were connected primarily to the consolidation of power and wealth by militias and other state-affiliated groups," the report said.

"Trafficking, enslavement, forced labour, imprisonment, extortion and smuggling of vulnerable migrants generated significant revenue for individuals, groups and state institutions.

In 2022, the EU was criticised for using a drone to help Libyan forces intercept boats carrying migrants in the Mediterranean.

The drone, which operated out of EU member Malta, played a "crucial role" in detecting boats leaving Libya, information that the EU's border agency, Frontex, then hands to the Libyan coastguard, HRW said.

"Frontex claims the surveillance is to aid rescue, but the information facilitates interceptions and returns to Libya... [despite] overwhelming evidence of torture and exploitation of migrants and refugees in Libya," HRW said in a statement.

This article is available in French on Middle East Eye French edition.

Excerpt from:
UN investigation says EU 'aided' crimes against humanity in Libya - Middle East Eye

In the case of State security forces, human rights violations were committed to quash dissent and exploit vulnerable migrants, with no justice in sight, according to thelatest report, from theIndependent Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) on Libya.

It documents the widespread practice of arbitrary detention, murder, torture, rape, enslavement and enforced disappearance in the country. In addition, the Mission states for the first time that sexual slavery was committed against migrants.

There is anurgent need for accountability to end this pervasive impunity, said Mohamed Auajjar, the Missions chair. We call on Libyan authorities todevelop a human rights plan of actionand a comprehensive, victim-centred roadmap on transitional justice without delay, and hold all those responsible for human rights violations accountable.

Libya has been in turmoil since the ouster of former long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi, with the country divided between rival administrations and warring militias, with a UN-recognized Government of National Accord based in the capital Tripoli and the forces of General Khalifa Haftars so-called Libyan National Army holding sway in the east and southern areas of the oil-rich nation.

The Mission which has reported since 2016, noted thataccountability for the violations was severely lacking, as most survivors weretoo afraid and mistrustful of the justice systemto officially report the abuse. As a result, the violations continue unabated, the Mission said.

As its mandatecomes to an end next week, the Mission called for the creation of new rights monitoring and investigation mechanisms, to support Libyan reconciliation efforts and help the authorities achieve transitional justice and accountability.

The report notes that more than 670,000 migrants from over 41 countries were present in Libya in the period since July 2022, when the Missions mandate was last extended, until March of this year.

The Missioninterviewed more than 100 migrants over the course of its investigationsand its report points tooverwhelming evidence of systematic torture and sexual slavery,among other violations.

Detention centres in which migrants were enslavedwere under the actual or nominal control of the authorities, including the Directorate for Combating Illegal Migration and the Libyan Coast Guard.

The widescaleexploitation of migrants is a lucrative business, the Mission said, noting that trafficking, enslavement, forced labour, imprisonment, extortion and smuggling generated significant revenue for individuals, groups and State institutions.

Detention-related violations were also found to affect Libyans on a large scale, and the Mission points to the responsibility of State authorities and their leadership.

The report notes thatvictims came from every segment of Libyan society and included children, adult men and women, human rights defenders, political participants, civil society representatives, members of military or security forces, legal professionals and persons of perceived or actual diverse sexual orientations and gender identities.

Most of those interviewed by the Mission were held without charge in horrific conditions, subjected regularly to torture, solitary confinement, held incommunicado and denied access to water, food and other essentials.

Children walk past damaged buildings in Benghazi in Libya.

According to the Mission, the situation of women in Libyahas only worsened over the past three years, in a context of a weakening of State institutions amid the rising power of armed groups.

The report documentssystematic discrimination against women, a rise in domestic violence, which is not punished by any comprehensive law, and a lack of accountability for crimes against prominent women leaders, such as theenforced disappearance of member of parliament Sihem Sergiwanearly four years ago, and the killing of Hannan Barassi in 2020.

The Mission reiterated its call on the authorities in Benghazi, where the two high-profile crimes took place, toadequately investigate themand bring the perpetrators to justice.

Established by the Human Rights Council in 2020 to investigate human rights violations by all parties since the beginning of 2016, the Missions mandate ends on 4 April,at a time when the human rights situation in Libya is deteriorating, parallel State authorities are emerging and the legislative, executive and security sector reforms needed to uphold the rule of law and unify the country arefar from being realized, says the report.

In this context, the Missioncalls on the Human Rights Council to establish a sufficiently resourced, independent international investigation mechanism, and on the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to create another mechanism with an ongoing mandate to monitor and report on gross human rights violations in Libya.

Among other recommendations, the reportcalls on the international community to cease all direct and indirect support to Libyan actors involved in crimes against humanity and gross human rights violations against migrants, such as the Directorate for Combating Illegal Migration, the Stability Support Apparatus and the Libyan Coast Guard.

The Mission also says it willshare its findings with the International Criminal Court, including a list of possible perpetrators of international crimes.

UN Human Rights Council-appointed rights experts such as the members of the Mission work on a voluntary and unpaid basis, are not UN staff, and work independently from any government or organization.

Following a UN-brokered ceasefire in October 2020, elections were due to take place in December 2021, but were postponed.

Last month,Abdoulaye Bathily, Special Representative for Libya and head of the UNs political mission in the country(UNSMIL)announced to the Security Councilanew initiative aiming to facilitate the holding ofpresidential and legislative elections before the end of the year.

Speaking about the need for reconciliation in Libya, Mr. Bathily said at the time, Reconciliation is a long-term process that should be inclusive, victim-centred, rights-based and grounded on transitional justice principles.

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Libya: Crimes against humanity committed since 2016 rights probe - UN News