UN Releases Report on Unlawful Detention in Libya (April 10, 2018) [1]
On April 10, 2018, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) published a report [3] titled, “Abuse Behind Bars: Arbitrary and Unlawful Detention in Libya,” detailing the extent of arbitrary and unlawful detention taking place in Libya. The report states that “[a]rmed groups across Libya, including those affiliated with the State, hold thousands of men, women and children in prolonged arbitrary and unlawful detention, and subject them to torture and other human rights violations and abuses.” Since hostilities broke out again in Libya in 2014, armed groups have detained suspected opponents, critics, activists, medical professionals, journalists, and politicians, while others are held due to tribal or family links, as well as political affiliations. As of “October 2017, some 6,500 people were estimated to be held in official prisons overseen by the Judicial Police of the Ministry of Justice, while thousands more are held in a multitude of other facilities nominally under the Ministries of Interior or Defence or run directly by armed groups.” As noted in the press release [4], the report “summarizes the main human rights concerns regarding detention in Libya since the signing of the Libyan Political Agreement (LPA) on 17 December 2015 until 1 January 2018.”