On the occasion of the 13th session of the Assembly of States Parties (ASP) of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in New York, No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ) in partnership with the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) will hold a side event on “Accountability for Human Rights Violations in Libya”, on Friday 12 December 2014 from 13:15 to 14:30 (Conference Room A, United Nation Headquarters, New York).
Libya ostensibly has both national and international transitional justice processes to address past and ongoing violations, including ongoing national criminal proceedings, a law establishing the Fact Finding and Reconciliation Commission fact-finding commission and a case before the International Criminal Court.

To date, however, none of these mechanisms have been able to provide any form of meaningful justice or redress for victims. National proceedings are stalled or continually adjourned. Thousands remain in arbitrary detention, including many for whom legal standards of detention are not met, aggravated by ill treatment, including episodes of torture and death in custody. Overall there remain enormous challenges to a fair, effective and transparent national judicial system. Libya still has to implement the provisions of the Transitional justice law (Law 29/2013) passed in December 2013, including the definition of the mandate of the Fact-Finding and Reconciliation Commission and the appointment of its commissioners.  The national fact-finding commission established by Law no. 29 of 2013 was never appointed by the legislative authorities and its future seems lost in the current political fragmentation of the country . The ICC indictments issued while the revolution was ongoing were an important element in denying authority and legitimacy to those that sought to maintain power through mass atrocities and offered hope that Libyans would one day receive justice and redress. Today, the ICC is not only unable to proceed, without the presence of its one defendant, but it is becoming increasingly irrelevant to the transitional justice discourse in Libya.

This side event is an opportunity for Libyan civil society leaders to discuss the prospects of whether and how the ICC can continue to represent a pivot of the Libyan transition, and what role the Court, the Libyan authorities, other governments and civil society can play to ensure that the expectation of impunity for atrocities does not continue to substitute violence to a peaceful political process, but it is replaced by an expectation and a reality of accountability for human rights violations and redress for victims.

The panel will include among the speakers Mr Salam Ali Tekbali, Lawyer, National Economic and Social Development Board ; Thomas Ebbs, London Programmes Coordinator, Lawyers for Justice in Libya; Mr Ahmed El Gasir, Senior researcher, Human Rights Solidarity (HRS); Ms Stéphanie David, FIDH Representative to the United Nations.

Documentation

• Flyer of the event
• Visit the special page dedicated to NPWJ Transitional Justice Program in Libya

NPWJ and the ICC
No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ) is an international non-profit advocacy organisation working for the protection and promotion of human rights, democracy, the rule of law, accountability and justice, born of a campaign of the Transnational Radical Party. NPWJ has unique field experience in wide-scale documentation of violations of international humanitarian law, conflict mapping and analysis, and in implementing outreach programs on international criminal justice that engage communities in conflict and post-conflict and in complex political environments. NPWJ, which is also a member of the NGO Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC) and which has been one of the organisations at the forefront of promoting the establishment and entry into force of the permanent International Criminal Court (ICC) and continues to work for its universal ratification, has participated in every session of the ASP since its first session in 2002, the year the ICC was established.
For further information, please contact  Gianluca Eramo (MENA Program Coordinator) on geramo@npwj.org, or Nicola Giovannini (Press & Public Affairs Coordinator) on ngiovannini@npwj.org or +32-2-548-3915.

For further information on the activities of NPWJ in Libya please contact Giulia Cappellazzi on gcappellazzi@npwj.org, or Enrica Barago on ebarago@npwj.org.