"Interactive Dialogue with the Fact-finding mission on Libya (oral update)

Agenda Item 10: Technical assistance and capacity-building"

Statement by: International-Lawyers.org

5 October 2020

Thank you, President.

We welcome the oral update by the Chair of the Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Libya and the Special Representative’s statement.

The conflict in Libya has been raging for years and therefore we highly commend the establishing and progress of the Independent Fact-Finding Mission. We encourage cooperation with the ICC, as well as domestic courts, in order to ensure the protection of victims and accountability for the crimes perpetrated.

We regret that the mandate is only effective for crimes committed from 2016 onwards, as this leaves serious crimes carried out by various national and international actors since 2011 unpunished. We believe that no perpetrators should be excluded from the accountability process. For this reason, we urge the Council to reconsider the mission’s mandate, to include crimes committed since 2011 in order to ensure full accountability and to bring justice to the Libyan people. The notion of the responsibility to protect does not grant a right to commit war crimes. Rather, the R2P, although controversial, encompasses the responsibility to rebuild, and accountability for crimes plays a crucial role in this.

International-Lawyers and Geneva International Centre for Justice call on all parties to the conflict to obey the agreed upon ceasefire and to respect international humanitarian and human rights law, so that further atrocities can be prevented. Additionally, we call upon the international community to respect the arms embargo, as its disrespect seriously undermines the progress made thus far.

I thank you.