New tools must be deployed to keep the global spotlight on the ongoing gross violations and crimes against humanity in Libya and to serve justice for its victims, the UN rights chief said on Monday at the Human Rights Council’s latest session. “Libyan authorities, armed groups, smugglers, and human traffickers should not assume that the eyes of the international community have now left Libya,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk warned. “It is crucial that we redouble efforts to secure accountability for past violations and continue to monitor the reality on the ground to prevent future violations,” he added, echoing the calls for action made by the recently concluded Independent Fact‑Finding Mission (FFM) on Libya.
Oil‑rich Libya has been in turmoil since the ouster of former decades‑long leader Muammar Gaddafi, with rival administrations and warring militias competing to fill the power vacuum. The UN‑recognised Government of National Accord is based in the capital Tripoli, while the forces of General Khalifa Haftar’s so‑called Libyan National Army control much of the east and southern areas.
In its final report, the FFM recommended that the UN Human Rights Office establish a distinct and autonomous mechanism with an ongoing mandate to monitor and report on gross human‑rights violations in Libya. The mechanism would support Libyan reconciliation efforts and assist the authorities in achieving transitional justice and accountability. Addressing the Council on Monday, FFM chair Mohamed Auajjar shared grim details, findings, and recommendations from the report. “The situation in Libya is still very dire,” he said. “Violations continue unabated, and fundamental freedoms and the human‑rights situation have deteriorated.”
After conducting more than 400 interviews, collecting over 2,800 items of information, and undertaking 13 missions—including to Tripoli, Benghazi, Italy, Rwanda, Malta, and the Netherlands—the Mission found reasonable grounds to believe that crimes against humanity have been committed against Libyans and migrants throughout Libya since 2016. Findings confirmed the widespread practice of arbitrary detention, murder, torture, rape, enslavement, sexual slavery, and enforced disappearance.
“The rapid, deep, and ongoing absorption of armed groups and their leadership into state‑affiliated structures and institutions is of significant concern,” Auajjar cautioned. “We regret that these crimes continue to be committed to this day.” High Commissioner Türk stressed that his office will strengthen its work on Libya, where the human‑rights situation continues to deteriorate amid widespread violence by armed actors, ongoing political deadlock, and deepening curbs on civic space.
Türk expressed deep concern over the intensifying crackdown on civil society, most recently through a government decree declaring all national and international civil‑society organisations registered after 2011 illegal. “Regulations concerning civil society should respect the fundamental rights of freedom of assembly and association, not suffocate and criminalise the work of those striving for a rights‑based future for Libya,” he said. He also underlined the importance of holding national elections and working towards sustainable peace.
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