RES/28/30 Technical assistance and capacity-cbuilding to improve human rights in Libya

GE.15-07114 (E)



Human Rights Council Twenty-eighth session

Agenda item 10

Technical assistance and capacity-building

Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council

28/30. Technical assistance and capacity-building to improve

human rights in Libya

The Human Rights Council,

Guided by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations,

Reaffirming the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and relevant international

human rights treaties,

Confirming the primary responsibility of States to promote and protect human rights,

Reaffirming its strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and

territorial integrity of Libya,

Looking forward to a future for Libya based on national reconciliation, justice,

respect for human rights and the rule of law,

Recalling all its previous relevant resolutions on Libya,

Taking note with appreciation of the joint reports of the United Nations Support

Mission in Libya and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human

Rights of 4 September and 23 December 2014, and the High Commissioner’s statement of

14 October 2014 condemning attacks on human rights defenders, political activists,

bloggers and media professionals in Libya,

Welcoming the steps taken by the interim Government in Libya to address human

rights issues, including the promulgation of a transitional justice law on 8 December 2013,

the law against torture and discrimination on 9 April 2013 and the decree to redress the

situation of victims of rape and other violence on 19 February 2014, while expressing grave

concern that, since January 2014, the security and political crisis has undermined the

transition to democracy, which is the aspiration of the Libyan people,

Expressing concern about the impact of the security and political crisis and of

terrorism on the people of Libya, including loss of life, mass displacement and its particular

impact on women and children, damage to property and infrastructure, including schools

and hospitals, the use of schools as military bases and the shortages of medical supplies and

treatment,

Expressing concern also about the impact of the security and political crisis and of

terrorism on migrants, in particular the increase in the number of deaths of migrants

attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea,

Emphasizing the need for a political solution to the conflict, for an immediate

ceasefire and for all parties to cease violence, expressing full support for the efforts led by

the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya to facilitate talks and to

establish a national unity government, and underscoring the importance of the equal and

full participation of all parts of Libyan society, including women and youth, in the political

process,

Reaffirming that those responsible for violations or abuses of human rights,

violations of international humanitarian law and terrorism should be held accountable, and

that counter-terrorism measures must be consistent with applicable international law,

1. Condemns all violations and abuses of human rights and violations of

international humanitarian law, including those involving unlawful killings, indiscriminate

shelling and attacks on civilians, abductions and assassinations, including of government

officials, judges, human rights activists, journalists and members of civil society

organizations, shelling of hospitals, looting of property, and restrictions on freedom of

expression;

2. Condemns in the strongest terms the terrorist acts, hostage-taking and

violence committed against civilians by the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant

(Daesh in Libya) and other terrorist organizations, their violent extremist ideology and their

continued gross, systematic and widespread abuse of human rights and violations of

international humanitarian law, and reaffirms that terrorism, including the actions of the so-

called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, cannot and should not be associated with any

religion, nationality or civilization;

3. Strongly urges the Government of Libya to investigate human rights

violations and abuses and to hold those responsible to account;

4. Strongly urges all parties immediately to cease violations and abuses and to

engage fully in the United Nations-led dialogue for peace aimed at the establishment of a

Government of national unity, in order to avert further deterioration in the humanitarian

crisis suffered by Libyans as a result of the conflict and to prevent the further erosion of the

sovereignty and security of Libya, and urges all fighters and their leaders to declare that

violations and abuses of human rights will not be tolerated and that individuals suspected of

such acts will be removed from duty;

5. Calls for those responsible for violations or abuses of international human

rights law, including sexual violence and violations and abuses against children, to be held

accountable in accordance with international standards;

6. Calls upon the Government of Libya to increase efforts to end impunity, and

takes note of its continued cooperation with the International Criminal Court to ensure that

those responsible for violations of human rights and international humanitarian law,

including attacks targeting civilians, are held accountable;

7. Recognizes the ongoing human rights challenges in Libya, strongly

encourages the Government of Libya to increase its efforts to protect and promote human

rights and to prevent any violations or abuses, and in this regard calls upon the international

community to provide assistance for Libyan efforts to establish the rule of law, due process

and access to justice, including through capacity-building in the justice system to enable

effective accountability;

8. Urges the international community to support the Government and the

Parliament of Libya to fully assume their responsibilities to promote and protect the human

rights of the Libyan people;

9. Expresses grave concern at the rise in the number of conflict-related

detainees, including children, and at reports of torture and sexual and gender-based

violence in detention centres, calls upon the Government urgently to increase its efforts to

establish full and effective control over all detention centres, in order to ensure that

detainees, including foreign detainees, are treated in accordance with its international

obligations, including, where applicable, those relating to fair trial guarantees and humane

treatment in detention;

10. Welcomes the commitment of the Government of Libya to human rights and

its continued cooperation with the Human Rights Council and its mechanisms, including

the wish expressed by the Government to continue its cooperation with the United Nations

High Commissioner for Human Rights and to renew its invitation for him to visit Libya,

and urges the Government:

(a) To take further steps to protect freedom of expression, ensuring that the

media can operate freely and without discrimination, to review the provisions of the Penal

Code and other provisions that violate freedom of expression, and to abolish all Penal Code

restrictions on free speech that stipulate imprisonment and the death penalty for “insults” to

officials, the judiciary and the State, for “slander” and for blasphemy;

(b) To intensify efforts to prevent acts of torture, to investigate all allegations of

torture, to hold those responsible to account and to consider providing fair and adequate

compensation for victims;

(c) To make further progress towards the ratification of the International

Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and the

Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or

Degrading Treatment or Punishment;

(d) To promote the continued operation of the National Council for Civil

Liberties and Human Rights in conformity with the principles relating to the status of

national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (Paris Principles);

(e) To participate openly and constructively in its upcoming universal periodic

review;

(f) To further empower women and girls, including by ensuring their full

representation in politics, the police and the judiciary;

(g) To ensure the protection of cultural rights and freedom of religion and belief,

in accordance with its international obligations, and to take appropriate steps to help to

prevent all attacks on and destruction of cultural and religious sites in violation of

international law, particularly those on the World Cultural and Natural Heritage List of the

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, and to prosecute those

responsible for such attacks;

(h) To take further steps to guarantee freedom of association and assembly,

including by reviewing the articles of the Penal Code that undermine freedom of

association and by adopting a law for civil society organizations that is in accordance with

international standards on freedom of association, that ensures the protection of human

rights defenders and that only includes legal limitations that comply with the international

treaty obligations of Libya;

11. Urges the Government of Libya, the international community, the United

Nations and all parties to the conflict to facilitate the full, equal and effective participation

of women in all activities relating to the prevention and resolution of the armed conflict, the

maintenance of peace and security and post-conflict peacebuilding in accordance with

relevant Security Council resolutions, including resolutions 1325 (2000) of 31 October

2000 and 2122 (2013) of 18 October 2013;

12. Encourages the Libyan Constitutional Assembly to intensify its efforts to

draft a constitution that protects the human rights of all, including women and members of

all communities and vulnerable groups, and to ensure, as far as possible, the participation of

all members of society, including civil society organizations, in the process of drafting the

constitution;

13. Emphasizes the importance of a broad-based and inclusive national dialogue

in order to ensure a peaceful and sustainable democratic transition;

14. Recognizes the efforts made by States in tracing, freezing and recovering

stolen assets and the importance of effective cooperation between the international

community and the Libyan authorities in this regard, taking into account the potential of the

recovery of these assets in helping the Libyan authorities to improve security, development

and the realization of all the human rights of all Libyans;

15. Takes note of the final report of the international commission of inquiry on

Libya, 1 and encourages the Government of Libya to implement fully the recommendations

contained therein;

16. Takes note with appreciation of the report of the Office of the High

Commissioner on the situation of human rights in Libya and on related technical support

and capacity-building needs; 2

17. Recognizes the security, political and economic challenges faced by the

Government of Libya, which have been exacerbated by armed conflict;

18. Requests the High Commissioner urgently to dispatch a mission to

investigate violations and abuses of international human rights law committed in Libya

since the beginning of 2014, and to establish the facts and circumstances of such abuses and

violations with a view to avoiding impunity and ensuring full accountability, in

coordination with the United Nations Support Mission in Libya, inviting the assistance of

relevant experts, particularly the National Council for Civil Liberties and Human Rights,

and of special procedures mandate holders, and to submit to the Human Rights Council at

its thirty-first session, under agenda item 10, a written report on its findings, which should

also contain an update on technical assistance, capacity-building and cooperation with the

Government of Libya, with recommendations for future capacity-building needs that

include but are not limited to the justice system and accountability;

1 A/HRC/19/68.

2 A/HRC/28/51.

19. Also requests the High Commissioner to provide the Council, at its thirtieth

session, with an oral update, to be followed by a stand-alone interactive dialogue, under

agenda item 10, and invites the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya

to participate in the interactive dialogue, which should include a focus on ensuring

accountability for human rights violations and abuses in Libya.

58th meeting

27 March 2015

[Adopted without a vote.]