4 Apr – 10 Apr: UN release a report on armed groups control of prisons while UNSMIL launch first round of ‘consultative meetings’

Apr 10, 2018 | International actors

On 10 April, the UN human rights office and UN Support Mission in Libya released a report exploring armed groups control of prisons in Libya, the subsequent torturing of detainees and how successive government in Tripoli have been inability to curtail these activities. The report describes the armed groups power as having grown “unchecked” and free of effective government oversight despite the state paying the salaries and providing material and equipment to the groups.

On 5 April, UNSMIL launched its first round of ‘consultative meetings’ in Benghazi and Zuwara, as part of the UN-initiated Libya National Forum followed by meetings in Ghariyan and Brak al-Shatti on 7 April and in Abu Salim on 10 April. More than 20 of these meetings are planned across the next few weeks, including at least 5 in Libya’s south. The aim of these meetings is to give citizens the opportunity to air their opinions on divisive issues. The idea is that the views elicited in this ‘bottom-up’ process will then feed into the National Conference planned by UN Envoy Ghassan Salame after Ramadan in mid-June. The UN-initiated public consultation process will be organized by the Geneva-based Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue.