Issam al-Rawi, President of the Libyan National Council for Freedom and Human Rights (LNCFHR) claims that neither the General National Congress (GNC) nor the executive branch of government has paid attention to its concerns.
The council was established after the 2011 revolution under the provisions of Law No. 5 issued by the National Transitional Council to monitor the situation of human rights and public freedoms.
Issam al-Rawi, President of the Libyan National Council for Freedom and Human Rights (LNCFHR) claims that neither the General National Congress (GNC) nor the executive branch of government has paid attention to its concerns.
The council was established after the 2011 revolution under the provisions of Law No. 5 issued by the National Transitional Council to monitor the situation of human rights and public freedoms.
Modeled after the United Nations Human Rights Commission’s Paris Principles, the Libyan council has 11 members at the national level and began its work in 2013.
Mr. Al-Rawi, what has the council accomplished so far?
Until today, it has issued three reports and one periodical on the conditions of human rights in Libya in general, in addition to a number of quality reports related to human rights.
The council was created by a decision taken by the Transitional Council. To what extent is it independent and is there any official control over it?
The council enjoys full freedom and independence. Its relationship to the state is with the executive authority, the body responsible for appointing the council’s members and which is also responsible for providing it with financial support. There is no direct or indirect subordination to state institutions. It is a fully independent institution.
Isn’t there any pressure on the council given the presence of power centers in the country that are keen on keeping their violations hidden?
The political situation in Libya is complicated, problematic and turbulent, but the council, since its inception, and as a result of consensus between its members, has been working in full independence without any influence from any party. Actually, until today, we do not feel that there is any kind of intervention by the government, the General National Congress or other political forces.
It is true that there are parties upset by the council’s reports, its opinions, and its statements and all parties see the council as their opponent. This is because of the neutrality of the council.
When we are neutral everybody thinks that we are against him. Despite this, I stress that the council acts in neutrality and it gives its objective judgments in its reports and in its work. I repeat, there are no direct or indirect interferences in our work.
Can we say that the absence of pressure on the council is because of its insignificant voice, compared to the voices of other independent human rights organizations?
On the contrary, the council has tried to deal with the conditions in Libya and the situation of human rights in the country comprehensively and from all angles. It has dealt with issues of illegal prisons and we have clear reports on these prisons. We have also dealt with the issue of torture and forced disappearances, the violations committed by the militias and IDPs and their issues.
We have taken clear stances with regard to all these issues. Moreover, the council has dealt with constitutional issues through the Supreme Court by contesting a number of laws issued by the legislative authority; which violate human rights or public freedoms.
Are you pleased with the performance of the Media Council? Don’t you think that it is in some way absent in the media landscape?
This might be true, but most probably this is because there are general public policies in Libya for the public as well as the privately owned media and these policies have priorities.
However, human rights issues are not among these priorities. I am personally not happy with the performance of the media in general and in the way it deals with issues of human rights in particular, in the sense that human rights are not a main issue in the Libyan media and this applies to audio-visual media.
Human rights issues haven’t yet been dealt with in the way they should be dealt with and in accordance with their importance.
The council’s 2013 report contained many recommendations for the National Conference, its successor and for the interim government. Did the Congress and the government implement these recommendations?
Unfortunately not. The council prepared a number of recommendations that would improve human rights in Libya, but the state, with all of its institutions, did not deal with them in a satisfactory manner and did not implement any of the recommendations stated in the council’s report.
The same report stressed the need to launch a dialogue with “no supremacy for any party and no marginalization of any party,” slogan and to launch such an initiative. Why has this dialogue been delayed and which is the right party to administer it?
This is an important question. Perhaps there is no real strong political will among some political parties for the holding of this national dialogue. In Libya today, there are a number of scattered initiatives around this dialogue. There is a dialogue project adopted by the preparatory body for National Dialogue led by Mr. Fadil Allamin, the late Salwa Boukaiqis and a group of national figures.
Now, there is also an international initiative for dialogue, led by the United Nations Mission in Libya and with international support and guarantees. This initiative was supposed to start on June 18 – 19, 2014, but it was delayed because some parties refused what had been stated in the preparatory documents for the initiative.
Can the council call for a national dialogue gathering the different political parties?
The council is convinced that dialogue is the solution to the political crisis in Libya. In its July 2014 report, it will stress the importance of holding the national dialogue.
The features of this call will become clearer with the launch of the report and if accepted, we, as an independent national Libyan institution, will coordinate between the different scattered initiatives in order to have both the national and international support present as well as the different political parties, organizations and active politicians.
We will let the different parties of the dialogue specify their priorities and the most important files that should be discussed and there will be no pre-prepared agenda. If God the Almighty destines this initiative for success, no party that believes in the civil democratic state will be absent. The most important thing is that this initiative will focus on the state project.
Can you give us an overview of the expected report for this month?
The report which will be issued this month will contain our vision of the human rights conditions in the country. It is divided into a number of sections covering different related human rights issues.
In general, human rights conditions during the last six months of 2014 did not witness any satisfactory improvements. There are still many human rights violations such as torture and kidnapping which end in death, enforced disappearances, violations affecting women’s rights and violations of public freedoms. The report tackles all these issues in details.
