Libya: UN report urges accountability for years of human rights violations in Tarhuna

GENEVA/TRIPOLI  – A UN report warned today that the continued lack of accountability and years of impunity enjoyed by those behind the human rights violations and abuses committed in the Libyan city of Tarhuna between 2013 and 2022 risk fuelling more instability and further division in the country.

The report by the Human Rights Service of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) and the UN Human Rights Office describes how the Al-Kaniyat, an armed element which emerged in 2011, later exercised brutal control over Tarhuna, a city of some 150,000 people 90 km southeast of Tripoli.

The report details killings, disappearances, sexual violence, abductions, torture, ill-treatment, forced displacement and other gross human rights violations and abuses, as well as serious violations of international humanitarian law committed by the Al-Kaniyat between 2013 and 2022.

“Years have passed since these terrible violations were committed, but the perpetrators have still not been brought to justice, nor have truth, justice or reparations been delivered to victims and their families,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk. “The impunity must end – there must be accountability in accordance with international due process and fair trial standards.”

The failure to deliver justice has led, in some instances, to renewed violence and repeated violations, fomenting further grievances in Tarhuna and surrounding areas, the report states.

“Leaving the root causes and drivers of conflict unaddressed will only serve to keep fuelling toxic cycles of violence and revenge between communities,” added the acting Head of the UN Support Mission in Libya and Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Political Affairs Stephanie Koury.

In November 2022, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announced that further applications for arrest warrants were being submitted in relation to the situation in Libya.

The report recommends a comprehensive transitional justice and reconciliation process, with meaningful truth-seeking measures and effective reparations for victims – including legal aid and mental health support and guarantees of non-repetition, designed in consultation with those directly affected. It also calls for robust accountability measures, through investigations and prosecutions of alleged perpetrators in line with international standards.

The report states that the Al-Kaniyat’s integration into the former Government of National Accord (GNA) and later the Libyan National Army (LNA) has been a significant barrier to accountability and justice. As a result, it adds, some residents have been hesitant to get involved in investigations and report crimes for fear of reprisals.

The report complements and builds on the 2022 findings of the Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Libya on the atrocities committed in Tarhuna, including the discovery of mass graves containing hundreds of human remains, most of them handcuffed, blindfolded and bearing signs of torture, and of the possibility that there could be up to 100 more such sites.