UN orders probe into abuses in Libya
Publish date: 29 June 2020
Issue Number: 879
Diary: IBA Legalbrief Africa
Category: Human rights
The UN has ordered an investigation into abuses in Libya since 2016. The country’s UN ambassador, Tamim Baiou, said he hoped the resolution would show that ‘impunity will no longer be tolerated’ in the war-ravaged nation. The draft resolution was tabled in March by a group of African countries and the UN Human Rights Council has adopted a resolution ordering a ‘fact-finding mission’ to Libya in order to document violations and abuses. Al Jazeera reports that the UN’s top rights body adopted the resolution without a vote and urged its rights chief Michelle Bachelet to ‘immediately establish and dispatch a fact-finding mission’. Libya has been wracked by violence, drawing in tribal militias, jihadists and mercenaries since the 2011 toppling and killing of long-time dictator Muammar Gaddafi in a Western-backed uprising.