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Mass Graves in Libya: Parties Involved and the Role of the UN

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1 Contents Contents .........................................................................................................................................2 Our Shadow Reports ......................................................................................................................3 About us .........................................................................................................................................4 Mass Graves in Libya: Parties Involved and the Role of the UN ................................................5 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................5 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 20 Recommendations ....................................................................................................................... 23 References ................................................................................................................................... 24 2 Our Shadow Reports International United Nations Watch (IUNW) produces regular short reports called “Shadow Reports” which deal with urgent issues about human rights violations and the role of the United Nations across the world. Topics dealt with in these reports are selected with great care, the emphasis being on issues and causes that require immediate intervention by the UN. As an organization monitoring the UN, we want to ensure that the global body, its organs and its specialized agencies are actively engaged in pursuing such issues. Therefore, we seek to act both as prompt and monitor in order to bring about remedial actions which would end abuses and protect the human rights of victims. In these reports, we seek to provide a diagnosis for issues of concern, drawing on background research plus supporting evidence as available. Only then, do we put forward recommendations for UN system agencies designed to promote change while ensuring UN member states act in accordance with the organization's founding principles and documented criteria and resolutions. Since the UN brings together all nations and internationally recognized NGOs from across the world, monitoring its activities is vital to ensure and, indeed, enhance its effectiveness, while holding it accountable. IUNW is committed to doing this as part of its mission to support multilateralism and promote shared international values based on respect for human rights and peaceful coexistence while also bringing about change. 3 About us International United Nations Watch (IUNW) is an international platform aiming to support and advance human rights standards, everywhere, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status. IUNW brings together political campaigners, unionists, and human rights activists to promote, support, and advance human rights standards. That includes both civil and political rights, as well as economic social and cultural rights. To this end, the IUNW systematically monitors UN member states to ensure they adhere to standards of rights to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, defined by International Human Rights Law. IUNW also monitors UN organs and agencies to ensure that the principles set by the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are upheld and advanced at all times and to the same standard. Mission To ensure that human rights standards are universal, binding UN members and UN agencies to the same expectations. What We Do Monitor human rights policy standards as upheld by member states Monitor the work of UN institutions to ensure the application of human rights standards without prejudice and transparency. Campaign in defense of human rights causes in line with our mission statement, building alliances with directly affected stakeholders and individuals, promoting the engagement of Civil Society in the work of the United Nations. Conduct seminars and workshops with the potential to empower human rights activists or inform policy stakeholders and consolidate best-practices. Support stakeholder consultation to monitor the application of human rights standards. Contact us: International United Nations Watch PN: +447547282209 Email: [email protected] Address: 1 Burwood Place, London, W2 2UT, United Kingdom. 4 Mass Graves in Libya: Parties Involved and the Role of the UN Introduction: After the forces of the United Nations-recognized Government of National Accord retook the city of Tarhuna in Libya, 90 km southeast of Tripoli, from the grip of retired general Haftar's forces, many reports emerged of the existence of mass graves in the city dug by the Haftar's forces before they left. The Public Authority for Search and Identification of Missing Persons, a government agency affiliated with the National Accord Government, posted photos on its Facebook account of dead bodies that it said were buried in a mass grave in a farm. The Authority confirmed that ten bodies were lifted despite the discovery of "messing" with them, noting that it appreciates peoples grieve for their missing sons, but they have to help specialists, instead of extracting the bodies themselves. 5 In turn, the head of the Authority, Kamal Abu Bakr, said in a press conference that he had received a notification from the municipality of Tarhuna that there were mass graves, including bodies in garbage dumps, stressing that the coming days would carry more information. The Minister of the Interior of the Government of National Accord, Fathi Bashagha, visited the city of Tarhuna, confirming that extensive searches were conducted to find these graves and to identify the identities of the dead. To whom did these bodies belong to? In 2020, several media outlets close to the Government of National Accord reported that the majority of the dead were residents of the city. These sources blamed the al-Kani militia or the Kaniyat militia, a militia loyal to Khalifa Haftar, whose leaders were killed weeks earlier in the military operations. In 2017, this militia was known for its widespread killing. The militia was initially supportive of the GNA, but their relationship has worsened over time and when Khalifa Haftar announced his campaign to control Tripoli, the Alkaniyat joined in. Bouraoui Bouzidi, General Supervisor of Tarhuna General Hospital, confirmed that more than 160 bodies were uncovered after the withdrawal of Haftar's forces from Tarhuna, according to Agence France-Presse, but he indicated that a number of bodies had been present in the hospital for many months. He did not reveal whether the bodies belonged to civilians or armed forces. 6 However, the media director of the Libyan Red Crescent, Bahaa Al-Kawash, told DW Arabic on June 12th 2020 that he believed the majority of the bodies in the hospital belonged to fighters belonging to Haftar's forces. Because Tarhuna Hospital was a destination for these fighters for treatment and placing the bodies of their dead during the battles, and after their retreat and the capture of the town by the GNA forces, they left the hospital with the bodies in the refrigerators. Al-Kawash added that it is possible that the bodies of the fighters were also found in other areas of the city, but he indicated that the Red Crescent in the city was not present in retrieving the bodies except in one cemetery, and it was difficult to identify the identity of the bodies from the beginning due to their decomposition. Al- Kawash added that the most reported missing cases were those of combatants, but it is difficult to talk about final conclusions on the matter due to the locality of mass graves in the country and the ongoing war conditions. 7 War crimes? However, Ahmed Hamza, from the National Committee for Human Rights in Libya, said on June 12th 2020 that accusations against Khalifa Haftar's forces of causing these graves are true, as “there is an extrajudicial killing of civilians and prisoners of war in the city,” referring to the fact that more than 60 bodies were found in one of the sites of dead bodies of Haftar's fighters in Tarhuna Hospital that belonged to the GNA fighters. At the same time, bodies belonging to Haftar's fighters were previously found in hospitals in Tripoli too. Hamza explains that the purpose of each side's seizure of the bodies is to carry out exchanges in the future, as it happened more than once in battles in the Libyan war, under the patronage of the United Nations and the Libyan Crescent. Hamzah noted to DW Arabia that the number of bodies in the city of Tarhuna outside the hospitals may exceed 200 which were found dumped in water wells. He stressed that the party that was controlling the city is the one that bears responsibility, as bodies were previously found in homes in areas in Tripoli controlled by the Haftar forces. The spokesman called for the formation of an independent international investigation commission to follow up on this issue. What was special about the statement of the General Authority for Search and Identification of Missing Persons on June 12th 2020, Kamal Abu Bakr, as claiming the existence of great difficulties in collecting the buried bodies because some of them were booby-trapped, in addition to the presence of mines near these bodies to try to kill those who approach them. On 22 June 2020, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda,
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