WUNRN
Libya Will Only Become Inclusive When Women Are Given a Say in Its Future
Photo: The Guardian
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The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders – OMCT & FIDH
Libya – Violence, Serious Risks for Human Rights Defenders – Civil War, Impunity – Women Defenders
http://www.omct.org/human-rights-defenders/reports-and-publications/libya/2015/08/d23319/
Direct Link to Full 32-Page 2015 Report:
http://www.omct.org/files/2015/08/23319/report_libya_eng_web.pdf
Paris, Geneva, August 12, 2015 – In Libya, human rights defenders have become prime targets for many armed groups involved in the ongoing civil war, reveals The Observatory in a report published today. Violence, harassment and intimidation are daily occurrences for these defenders, in a climate of impunity resulting from the breakdown of the State. The respect of human rights defenders as vital, non-partisan voices should be a baseline consensus for any successful agreement between parties to the conflict.
This report illustrates this catastrophic situation
through the stories of 24 human rights defenders, several of whom have been
killed. Others have been kidnapped, received violent threats against them or
their family. Their places of work have been broken into and subject to arson.
Threatening phone calls, defamation, and exile in neighboring countries are
regular occurrences for Libyan defenders.
In this polarised context with no room for independent
voices, no male or female citizen promoting the respect for human rights and
democratic principles is out of danger. However, those most often targeted by
acts of violence are lawyers, judges, representatives of government
institutions and national or international human rights organisations,
journalists and those who defend the rights of ethnic minority groups.
According to the testimonies of human rights defenders, the authors of these violations are mainly members of various non-State armed groups, particularly those belonging to the fundamentalist Islamist movement (in particular “Fajr Libya”). Sources have told the Observatory that Islamist armed groups keep “black lists” of targets containing the names of persons who promote democratic ideals and defend human rights and gender equality, values diametrically opposed to those promoted by Islamist armed groups.