NEW YORK: A Jordanian human rights expert working for the United Nations has called on Libyan authorities to take urgent action to protect women and girls in the country from what she called a “continuous cycle of rampant violence and mistreatment,” compounded by “complete impunity” for those responsible.
The UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, Reem Alsalem, said on Friday that she was “deeply disturbed at the widespread, systematic, and grave levels of violence faced by Libyan women and children, including girls.
“Femicide, or the killing of women on multiple grounds, is rife; as are acts of physical, economic, political and domestic violence in the private and public sphere,” Alsalem said in a statement.
Her comments followed an eight-day visit to the North African country during which, she said, she also received reports detailing “profoundly discriminatory and dehumanizing treatment endured by non-Libyan women and children, including girls, as well as horrific levels of torture, sexual violence, abduction for ransom, detention, trafficking in persons, forced labor and unlawful killings.”
While she described the invitation from the Government of National Unity to visit the country as encouraging, Alsalem lamented the many obstacles that she encountered on her trip, including delays in entering the country, her inability to visit prisons and detention centers where women and girls are being held, and being prevented from traveling to the east of the country to conduct visits she had planned prior to her arrival.
Special rapporteurs are independent experts who serve in individual capacities on a voluntary basis at the UN’s Human Rights Council. They are not staff members of the UN and are not paid for their work.
Alsalem put the lack of legal retribution for crimes committed against women and girls down to the “political deadlock, insecurity, instability, governance and rule-of-law challenges and problematic legal frameworks that are not in line with Libya’s international human rights obligations.”
The proliferation of armed groups and weaponry in Libya is feeding complex cross-border criminal enterprises, she added, and making an already “appalling situation” worse. She also expressed concern about the “increasing restrictions” imposed on civil society and international organizations trying to operate in Libya.
Alsalem called for the protection of women and girls to be a priority in “all dealings” with Libyan authorities. To better tackle the issue, she said the authorities must prioritize legislative reforms, including the adoption of a 2021 Draft Law on violence against women. She also recommended that they end impunity and boost support for governmental institutions and women’s organizations, and for the economic empowerment and political participation of women.
The UN expert also called for an end to “the pushback of migrants and refugees at sea to Libya, where their lives are at risk.”
She added: “Opportunities for access to fair asylum procedures, evacuation opportunities and voluntary returns to their countries must be scaled up.”
Violence against women and girls in Libya must end: UN expert
https://arab.news/zwgvt
Violence against women and girls in Libya must end: UN expert
- Reem Alsalem spoke of widespread systematic violence against women and girls
- The special rapporteur also urged Libyan authorities to punish those responsible
US presses missile issue as new Iran talks to open in Geneva
- New round of negotiations in Geneva comes after the US carried out a massive military build-up in the region
- Iran’s president reiterates Tehran is not seeking nuclear weapons in line with policy
GENEVA: The United States and Iran are set to hold indirect talks in Switzerland on Thursday aiming to strike a deal to avert fresh conflict and bring an end to weeks of threats.
The new round of negotiations in Geneva comes after the US carried out a massive military build-up in the region and President Donald Trump repeatedly threatened to strike Iran if a deal is not reached.
In his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Trump accused Iran of “pursuing sinister nuclear ambitions.”
He also claimed Tehran had “already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases overseas, and they’re working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America.”
The Iranian foreign ministry called these claims “big lies.”
Iran president says ahead of US talks not seeking nuclear weapon ‘at all’
TEHRAN: Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian reiterated on Thursday that Tehran was not seeking nuclear weapons in line with the policy set by the country’s supreme leader.
“Our Supreme Leader has already stated that we will not have nuclear weapons at all,” Pezeshkian said in a speech.
“Even if I wanted to move in that direction, I could not — from a doctrinal standpoint, I would not be permitted.” — AFP
The maximum range of Iran’s missiles is 2,000 kilometers according to what Tehran has publicly disclosed. However the US Congressional Research Service estimates they top out at about 3,000 kilometers — less than a third of the distance to the continental United States.
The dispute between the countries mostly revolves around Iran’s nuclear program, which the West believes is aimed at building an atomic bomb but Tehran insists is peaceful.
However the US has also been pushing to discuss Iran’s ballistic missile program, as well as Tehran’s support for armed groups hostile toward Israel.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that Iran must also negotiate on its missile program, calling Tehran’s refusal to discuss ballistic weapons “a big, big problem” on the eve of the talks.
He followed up by saying “the president wants diplomatic solutions.”
Iran has taken anything beyond the nuclear issue off the negotiating table and has demanded that the US sanctions crippling its economy be part of any agreement.
‘Neither war nor peace’
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Wednesday he had a “favorable outlook for the negotiations” that could finally “move beyond this ‘neither war nor peace’ situation.”
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who is leading the Iranian delegation at the talks, has called them “a historic opportunity,” adding that a deal was “within reach.”
In a foreign ministry statement that followed a meeting with his Oman counterpart, Araghchi said the success of the US negotiations depend “on the seriousness of the other side and its avoidance of contradictory behavior and positions.”
The US will be represented by envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who is married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka.
The two countries held talks earlier this month in Oman, which is mediating the negotiations, then gathered for a second round in Geneva last week.
A previous attempt at negotiations collapsed when Israel launched surprise strikes on Iran last June, beginning a 12-day war that Washington briefly joined to bomb Iranian nuclear sites.
In January, fresh tensions between the US and Iran emerged after Tehran engaged in a bloody crackdown on widespread protests that have posed one of the greatest challenges to the Islamic republic since its inception.
Trump has threatened several times to intervene to “help” the Iranian people.
Emile Hokayem, senior fellow for Middle East security at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said that “the region seems to expect a war at this point.”
In January, there was “a big push by a number of Middle Eastern states to convince the US not to” strike Iran.
“But there’s a lot of apprehension at this point, because the expectation is that this time” a war would be “bigger” than the one in June.
Tehran residents who spoke to AFP were divided as to whether there would be renewed conflict.
Homemaker Tayebeh noted that Trump had “said that war would be very bad for Iran.”
“There would be famine and people would suffer a lot. People are suffering now, but at least with war, our fate might be clear,” the 60-year-old said.
