International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women 2020

Today, November 25, marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women[i]. One in three women and girls experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, most frequently by an intimate partner, women and girls account for 71% of all human trafficking victims in the world, and 3 out of 4 of these women and girls are exposed to sexual exploitation. The General Assembly invited governments, international organizations and non-governmental organizations to organize activities that raise the awareness of societies about the extent and types of forms of violence against women around the world, and to define the extent of the gravity of this phenomenon[ii].

In recent years, Libyan society has experienced, and as a result of the conditions of political instability and military conflict, an increase in the frequency of violence suffered by society as a whole, from which women suffer more because they are the weakest. Violations against Libyan women have increased and exacerbated during the year 2020 as women were subjected to collective and individual violations at the hands of the security services in the Libyan state or the militias in light of the lack of security, the absence of legal deterrence, silence and community complicity. In some cases, to the point of justification and encouragement of impunity, as in the case of the slain lawyer Hanan al-Bara’si, who was assassinated on November 10, 2020, in one of the main and busiest streets of Benghazi[iii]. She was shot, in broad daylight, after she posted a live broadcast on Facebook, criticizing Saddam Khalifa Haftar[iv].

The fate of the member of House of Representatives (HoR), Dr. Siham Sergiwa, is still unknown, more than a year after she was kidnapped from her home in Benghazi by an armed group affiliated with the Tariq Bin Ziyad Brigade[v], despite appeals and demands by international human rights organizations and ambassadors of major countries to release her and reveal her fate[vi]. The fate of the 68-year-old “Magbula el-Hassi” who was kidnapped from her home in a suburb of Benghazi, is still unknown, despite condemnations of the kidnapping and demands for her release[vii]. Truth and justice are still absent in the case of the kidnappings of five Sudanese women, the bodies of two of whom were found bearing signs of torture, while the fate of the other three Sudanese women remains unknown[viii]. The perpetrators of these crimes and other cases have not yet been identified, nor the results of the investigations have been announced by the security services and official authorities in Benghazi. These security authorities are affiliated to the Interim Government, which is recognized only by the House of Representatives (based in Tobruk)[ix].

Mrs. Maria Ribeiro, Humanitarian Coordinator for the United Nations Support Mission in Libya, expressed her concerns and warnings over the past years that the proliferation of armed groups and local armed conflicts in Libya makes women their first victims[x], and it has negative effects on women and their children from the lack of their right to security and personal safety and exposure to severe direct or indirect harm. An example is the case of abductions and disappearances of a group of women in the town of Tarhuna, some of them their relatives belonging to fighters opposed to a local militia in Tarhuna, known as al-Kaniyat. Al-Kaniyat were allied with Khalifa Haftar during the attack on the capital, Tripoli. International human rights organizations and media organizations confirmed the kidnapping of four women, three of them belonged to the same family, “Harouda” family. The victims, their ages ranged from the late thirties to the mid-forties and one was pregnant, their fate remains unknown[xi].

The number of women detained without any legal procedures and without trial for long periods continues to grow, including for “security reasons”. Also, women being tried before military courts, as in the city of Derna, where a sources from the city stated that “militias affiliated with the leader of Operation Dignity Khalifa Haftar” arrested Ms. Hind Abdul Aziz al-Naas[xii] in February 2020, because she posted on Facebook an opinion opposing the forces of “Operation Dignity” controlling eastern Libya[xiii]. Mrs. Maryam Youssef Al-Matradi is still in arbitrary detention in Mitiga detention center, which is controlled by the Special Deterrence Force (SDF) since her abduction[xiv] from her residence in the city of Zliten on February 3, 2018. The incident of threatening the head of the Seventh Criminal Chamber of the Benghazi Appeals Court, Justice Fatma al-Masri, by an armed group, was considered as a threat to the work of women in the judiciary[xv].

Among the precautionary measures taken by the Libyan authorities to contain COVID-19 pandemic, is the imposition of lockdown, which increased the likelihood of increase in cases of domestic violence practiced against women in Libya. A quick survey[xvi], conducted by the United Nations Women in Libya[xvii], revealed a number of challenges facing Libyan women, the most prominent of which is the following: “46 per cent of respondents feared domestic violence would increase during the lockdown”, because of tensions, created by insecurity, health, and financial pressures, which are aggravated by the lockdown.

Among the few hopeful steps in improving the conditions of Libyan women and reducing the violations against them is the appointment of five women judges to work in two newly established specialized courts in Benghazi and Tripoli to hear cases of violence against women and children[xviii]. Also, the first toll-free hotline was launched to provide psychosocial support in Libya 1417 in partnership between the United Nations Population Fund – Libya, the Ministry of Social Affairs, and the Psychosocial Support Team. The aim of this hotline is to help the most vulnerable residents and survivors of violence, by providing them with psychosocial support services and ensuring their access to them, as well as providing legal advice, referral services to health care and other basic services[xix].

Human Rights Solidarity, while expressing its concern about the increase in violence against women in Libya in public life, and expressing its dissatisfaction with the Libyan authorities’ failure to make their promises[xx], it renews its call to these authorities to assume their responsibilities to protect women from exposure to all manifestations of violence by:

• continuing the ceasefire and the cessation of hostilities to unify efforts in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic,
• ensuring that Libyan women have an equal voice in designing the country’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and their equitable involvement in recovery efforts,
• issuing the necessary legislation and allocating resources to implement these legislation on the ground,
• developing institutions concerned with the protection of women and the rehabilitation of their workers,
• providing resources and training for hotline service personnel and the psychosocial support team,
• strengthening the periodic data collection on the spread of phenomenon of violence against women and girls,
• increasing public awareness and social mobilization through media programs and educational and educational sessions with the participation of the Ministries of Culture, Social Affairs, Islamic Endowments, Health, and Information, and
• training personnel in law enforcement institutions and increasing the percentage of women working in these institutions, to deal in a healthy manner with cases of violence against women, especially domestic violence.

Human Rights Solidarity calls on the Libyan authorities to work to protect migrant women and to ensure that they receive adequate assistance and to protect them from abuse and exploitation and must work to combat human trafficking gangs.

Human Rights Solidarity

Tripoli – Libya

[i] Women’s rights activists have observed 25 November as a day against gender-based violence since 1981. This date was selected to honour the Mirabal sisters, three political activists from the Dominican Republic who were brutally murdered in 1960 by order of the country’s ruler, Rafael Trujillo (1930-1961). On 7 February 2000 the General Assembly adopts resolution 54/134, officially designating 25 November as the International day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and in doing so, inviting governments, international organizations as well as NGOs to join together and organize activities designed to raise public awareness of the issue every year on that date. On 20 December 1993, the General Assembly adopts the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women through resolution 48/104, paving the path towards eradicating violence against women and girls worldwide.

[ii] Another bold step in the right direction was embodied by an initiative launched in 2008 and known as the UNiTE to End Violence against Women. It aims to raise public awareness around the issue as well as increase both policymaking and resources dedicated to ending violence against women and girls worldwide. In 2017, The European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) have embarked on a new, global, multi-year initiative focused on eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls (VAWG) – The Spotlight Initiative. The Initiative is so named as it brings focused attention to this issue, moving it into the spotlight and placing it at the centre of efforts to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment, in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

[iii] She was assassinated after the failed attempt to kidnap her by an armed group after she posted videos focusing on the cases of sexual exploitation and abuse of women in Benghazi, perpetrated by official security services and militias, affiliated with the so-called General Command (Operation Dignity Forces) commanded by retired officer Khalifa Haftar. In her last live broadcast a few hours before her assassination, she stated that she would address the corruption of Saddam Khalifa Haftar, a commander in the Tariq Bin Ziyad Brigade, most of its personnel are followers of the Madkhali group. The Madkhali group is a militant brand of the Salafi school, which refuses to recognize any role for women in public life. In a recording circulating on social media after the assassination of Hanan al-Bara’si, shows a member of the brigade speaking in a pejorative and slanderous language undermining the dignity and reputation of the slain lawyer.

[iv] CNN Channel (Arabic): “A day after she criticized Khalifa Haftar’s son, the murder of Libyan lawyer Hanan al-Bara’si is causing an uproar”, November 13, 2020.

[v] The New Arab: “Kidnapping of Women is on the Rise in East Libya”, November 5,

[vi] The United Nations Support Mission in Libya stated in a press releases concerning the kidnapping and enforced disappearance of Dr. Sergiwa: “constitutes a clear attempt to silence one of Libya’s prominent female voices and to intimidate other women seeking to participate in the country’s political life.“, October 17, 2019.

[vii] An armed group in Benghazi abducted a 68-year-old lady, Magbula el-Hasi from her home in Benghazi on 14^th October 2019. Ms. el-Hasi is a licensed alternative medicine practitioner. Her fate is still unknown despite appeals by her tribe.

[viii] The Libya Observer: “A Sudanese woman accuses Benghazi’s serial killer Mahmoud al-Werfalli of killing her mother after torturing her and terrorizing her with a lion“, November 12, 2019.

[ix] In a telephone call on a Libyan TV channel Major Tariq al-Kharraz, Director of the Security Information Office at the Ministry of Interior (Interim Government), defended the Mahmoud al-Werfalli, and alleged that the murdered victims were practicing magic, sorcery and acts of vice (Video of the comments of Major Tariq al-Kharraz on the Libya TV Channel, November 12, 2019). The head of the Sudanese community in Benghazi, Muhammad al-Marioud, revealed that the group that kidnapped and assassinated Sudanese women in Benghazi is “organized and systemic in its attacks and has a list of names of those who claim that they were practicing acts of sorcery and vice”. al-Marioud said that it might be a quasi-governmental entity, but investigations, evidence and clues were still in a preliminary stage stage. “Systemic kidnappings and murders of Sudanese women in Benghazi”, al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper website. October 11, 2019.

[x] “On 2 February 2019, at least four women and three infants were killed as the LNA shelled Derna’s Old City. On 9 February 2019, it was reported that 30 civilians, including one woman, were injured when the LNA shelled Derna’s Old City.”, UNSMIL “Civilian Casualties Report from 1 February to 31 March 2019”, May 22, 2019. The “LNA” is the self-styled military of Haftar, a mix of few military units and local, tribal, and extremist militias.

Also, in the recent Tripoli war, the Abu Salim Municipality announced that 6 people were killed, including 5 women, and more than 35 others were wounded, including women, as a result of the indiscriminate bombing of more than one locality in the municipality on the night of April 17, 2019. “6 civilians were killed and 26 wounded by shelling by Haftar’s forces targeting Abu Salim district”, the Libya Observer, April 17, 2019.

[xi] BBC News (Arabic): “The war in Libya: the fate of the kidnapped women of Tarhuna “remains unknown””, June 11, 2020.

[xii] Ar-Raed News: “Human rights organizations and activists condemn the arrests in Benghazi and Derna … the latest of which is the arrest of Hind Abdul Aziz”, August 20, 2020.

[xiii] Ms. Hind Abdul Aziz Al-Naas was arrested by militias loyal to retired Major General Khalifa Haftar in February 2020 for posting a picture on social media networks, of a handwritten message, on a piece of paper, supporting the military operation of the Government of National Accord. Initially, Ms. Hind was disappeared for a while, then news emerged that she was transferred to a correctional and rehabilitation facility in Benghazi, and that she was referred to the Military Prosecutor in the city of Benghazi. Neither her family nor her lawyer were allowed to see her, to follow her case, and the reasons for detaining her.

[xiv] She and her three children (ages five, three, and two years) were kidnapped hours after her husband was kidnapped. The infant children were released after a year and a few months, while the mother is still in detention despite no evidence of any charges against her. The kidnapping of relatives, especially the wife and children, is used by the militias in Libya to pressure those wanted to turn themselves in or pressure the detainees to make confessions. The Special Deterrence Force (SDF) is nominally a force under the authority of the Ministry of Interior in Tripoli, in reality the SDF has its own leadership and agenda. An agenda shaped by the militant Madkhali sect.

[xv] The Libyan News Agency: “The Libyan Association of Judicial Bodies condemns the threats against the Head of the Seventh Criminal Chamber of the Benghazi Appeals Court”, October 30, 2019. In their statement, the Libyan Association of Judicial Bodies described the incident as “immoral action, criminal behavior and outside the law, and called for the immediate arrest of those responsible”.

[xvi] UN Women, Arab States: “Press release: Already impoverished and impacted by insecurity and discrimination, Libyan women are likely to be hit hardest if COVID-19 takes hold in the war-torn country, UN Women warns”, April 14, 2020.

[xvii] UN Women: “Gender-Sensitive Prevention, Response and Management Of Covid-19 Outbreak in Libya”, April 2020.

[xviii] UNSMIL: “UNSMIL welcomes appointment of five women judges”, October 13, 2020.

[xix] UNFPA-Libya: “Launch of the first psychosocial hotline in Libya – Statement of UNFPA Libya Representative Ms. Bérangère Böell-Yousfi”, December 4, 2019.

[xx] Libya News Agency: “On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women: the Minister of State for Women’s Affairs calls for giving women equal opportunities with men, encouraging them to appear in the fields of work”, November 26, 2017. The Minister of State for Women’s Affairs, Ms. Asma al-Usta, made identified what needs to be done by the government and society, to start elimination of violence against women. None of these needed actions were initiated. She said “Violence against women has many forms. By preventing her from education or work, or through legal violence by enacting laws that harm women, which is considered one of the worst types of societal violence”.