UN / LIBYA

STORY: UN / LIBYA
TRT: 2:22
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / ARABIC / NATS

DATELINE: 24 OCTOBER 2022, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

SHOTLIST:

RECENT – NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior, United Nations Headquarters

24 OCTOBER 2022, NEW YORK CITY

2. Wide shot, Security Council

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Abdoulaye Bathily, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya and head of the United National Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL):
“The political deadlock persists with no clear end in sight to the prolonged stalemate over the executive. Further, efforts to resolve the remaining outstanding issues related to the constitutional basis for elections do not appear to lead to concrete action by the relevant actors.”
4. Wide shot, Security Council
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Abdoulaye Bathily, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya and head of the United National Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL):
“In response to the near-unanimous condemnation across the spectrum of the presence of mercenaries, foreign fighters, and foreign forces in Libya and the incessant foreign interference in the country’s affairs, I stressed to all my interlocutors that the solution to the crisis must come from inside Libya, on the basis of the will of the Libyan people.”
6. Wide shot, Security Council
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Abdoulaye Bathily, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya and head of the United National Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL):
“The human rights situation in Libya remains concerning. Violations against migrants and asylum seekers continue with impunity. Arbitrary detention continues as a common practice.”
8. Wide shot, Security Council
9. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Taher M. T. Elsonni, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Libya:
“We need support for national efforts to end this infernal cycle of conflict and violence to end divisions and fragmentation. This can only be achieved through real authentic national reconciliation that can result in stability and prosperity in Libya. This reconciliation can meaningfully contribute to ending the current political impasse. There's a need to restore trust among all Libyan citizens regardless of their affiliations, to turn the page of the past, and to uphold the principles of reconciliation, amnesty, frank, and open dialogue.”
10. Wide shot, Security Council

STORYLINE:
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya, Abdoulaye Bathily, said that the country’s human rights situation remains concerning.

Briefing the Security Council today (24 Oct) for the first time since he assumed his functions as Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) on 25 September, Bathily said, “The political deadlock persists with no clear end in sight to the prolonged stalemate over the executive.”

Further, he added, “efforts to resolve the remaining outstanding issues related to the constitutional basis for elections do not appear to lead to concrete action by the relevant actors.”

Bathily noted significant differences in how Libyans want to overcome the current crisis.

In response to the “near-unanimous condemnation across the spectrum of the presence of mercenaries, foreign fighters, and foreign forces in Libya and the incessant foreign interference in the country’s affairs,” the UNSMIL chief stressed that the solution to the crisis must come from inside Libya, based on the will of the Libyan people.

Bathily also said that while the ceasefire continues to hold, the security track needs to be reinvigorated, as the protracted political impasse has adversely impacted it.

He explained that the violent clashes in Tripoli on 27 August have resulted in a shift in the power balance in the capital, which has deepened tensions between Eastern and Western security actors and led to fragile stability.

According to the Special Representative for Libya, despite the noticeable decrease in the mobilization of armed groups and clashes among them, there are reports of ongoing large-scale recruitment activities.

Fighting between armed groups in Zawiya, west of Tripoli, on 25 September trapped dozens of families for several hours and left at least three civilians killed, including a 10-year-old girl.

Regarding human rights, Bathily stated that violations against migrants and asylum seekers continue with impunity, and arbitrary detention continues as a common practice.

On 7 October, in the aftermath of clashes between rival human-trafficking gangs in the city of Sabratha, eleven charred bodies of persons believed to be migrants were discovered in a docked boat, and four more bodies were found outside the boat bearing wounds.

Official statistics received by UNMSIL on 1 October show that nearly 11.000 individuals, including 55 women, are serving sentences in prisons run by the Judicial Police.

In addition, nearly 6,000 individuals are in pretrial detention, including 113 women. 135 juveniles are behind bars.

The total number represents a 40 percent increase from statistics released in August 2021.

Many of those in pre-trial detention, representing a third of the total prison population, are detained with no access to justice.

These numbers do not include the approximately 3,243 migrants arbitrarily detained in detention centres operated by Government entities.

Libyan Ambassador Taher M. T. Elsonni also briefed the Council today.

He said, “We need support for national efforts to end this infernal cycle of conflict and violence to end divisions and fragmentation. This can only be achieved through real authentic national reconciliation that can result in stability and prosperity in Libya. This reconciliation can meaningfully contribute to ending the current political impasse.”

Elsonni added, “There's a need to restore trust among all Libyan citizens regardless of their affiliations, to turn the page of the past, and to uphold the principles of reconciliation, amnesty, frank, and open dialogue.”