UN finds evidence of war crimes, crimes against humanity in Libya

The first findings from a ‘fact-finding mission’ chronicle accounts of crimes such as murder, torture, enslavement, extrajudicial killings and rape

The mission adds to a litany of news reports, UN studies and warnings from advocacy groups about the violence that has plagued the country for a decade

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Fighters loyal to Libya's UN-backed government fire guns during clashes on the outskirts of Tripoli. Violence has plagued Libya since the fall of autocrat Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Photo: Reuters

Published: 8:52pm, 4 Oct 2021Updated: 9:02pm, 4 Oct 2021

Investigators commissioned by the United Nations’ top human rights body to examine possible abuses in Libya said on Monday they have turned up evidence of possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in the restive North African country.

The first findings from a “fact-finding mission” commissioned by the Human Rights Council, which were released on Monday, chronicle accounts of crimes like murder, torture, enslavement, extrajudicial killings and rape. The findings could send a potent signal to key international and regional powers amid violence and mistreatment that has wracked Libya since the fall of former autocrat Muammar Gaddafi a decade ago.

“The violence that has plagued Libya since 2011, and which has continued almost unabated since 2016, has enabled the commission of serious violations, abuses and crimes, including crimes against humanity and war crimes, against the most vulnerable,” the three members who led the mission say in their report.

A 2018 photo released by the Libyan coastguard shows migrants on a ship intercepted offshore east of Tripoli. Photo: AP

The experts cite reports indicating that the Libyan coastguard – which has been trained and equipped by the European Union as part of efforts to stanch the flow of migrants across the Mediterranean – has mistreated migrants and handed some over to detention centres where torture and sexual violence are “prevalent”.

Amid concerns about foreign mercenaries operating in Libya, they experts say there are “reasonable grounds to believe” that personnel from a Russian private military company known as the Wagner Group, “may have committed the crime of murder” in connection with evidence that they had fired gunshots directly at people not taking direct part in the hostilities.