Human rights violations in the 2011 Libyan civil war
Encyclopedia
The outbreak of the 2011 Libyan civil war
has been followed by accusations of human-rights
violations by the rebel forces opposed to Muammar Gaddafi
, the Armed Forces and NATO. The alleged violations include rape
, extrajudicial killings, racism
, misconduct
and bombings of civilians.
, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court
, estimated that between 500 and 700 people were killed by Gaddafi's security forces in February 2011, before the rebels even took up arms. "Shooting at protestors was systematic," Moreno-Ocampo stated, discussing the Libyan government's response to the initial pro-democracy demonstrations.
The Libyan government denies that they ordered killings of demonstrators in the early days of the uprising. They say that soldiers acted in self defense as they were attacked by mobs.
Moreno-Ocampo further stated that during the ongoing civil war, "War crimes are apparently committed as a matter of policy" by forces loyal to Gaddafi.
This is further supported by claims of Human Rights Watch, that 10 protesters, who had already agreed to lay down arms, were executed by a government paramilitary group in Bani Walid
in May.
In June 2011, a detailed investigation carried out by Amnesty International found that many of the allegations against Gaddafi and the Libyan state turned out to either be false or lack any credible evidence, noting that rebels at times appeared to have knowingly made false claims or manufactured evidence. According to the Amnesty investigation, the number of casualties was heavily exaggerated, some of the protesters may have been armed, "there is no proof of mass killing of civilians on the scale of Syria or Yemen," and there is no evidence that aircraft or heavy anti-aircraft machine guns were used against crowds. It also doubted claims from the Western media that the protest movement was "entirely peaceful" and "presented no security challenge."
In July 2011, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi had an interview with Russia Today
, where he denied the ICC's allegations that he or his father Muammar Gaddafi ordered the killing of civilian protesters. He pointed out that he is not a member of the government or the military, and therefore has no authority to give such orders. According to Saif, he made recorded calls to General Abdul Fatah
, who later defected to the rebel forces, in order to request not to use force against protesters, to which Fatah responded that they are attacking a military site, where surprised guards fired in self-defense.
and Egypt
to document the trauma of the civil war. Nearly 300 women were reported to have been raped. The real number could be much higher, considering the stigma attached to rape victims in Libyan society. Every single woman in the survey who admitted to being raped, said they were raped by Gaddafi's soldiers or militiamen.
However, United Nations
war-crimes expert
M. Cherif Bassiouni, Human Rights Watch
(HRW), Doctors Without Borders and Amnesty International
say that they have found no evidence of systematic rape conducted by the Libyan government. Amnesty International's Donatella Rovera said that the Benghazi rebels had knowingly made false claims or manufactured evidence, quoting one example of pristine boxes of Viagra that the rebels said were found inside a totally burned out tank belonging to Gaddafi's troops. This raised serious doubts about the claim that Gaddafi handed out Viagra to his soldiers to enable them to rape more efficiently.
s is widespread by the Libyan government forces as a means of war. It found them on at least six different locations in Libya, mostly on frontlines of the Gaddafi forces. Among these land mines are not only anti-tank mines, but also anti-personnel mines, which can permanently pose a threat to civilians.
Another group of 15 dark-skinned Libyan prisoners were publicly executed by hanging in front of the Bayda courthouse.
(NTC) then pledged to hold responsible the causers of the attacks and to prevent such abuses in the future.
, the rebels killed many civilians, including men, women, and children, while there were also reports of the rebels harassing and stealing from the locals. According to one resident, "The rebels are worse than rats. Nato is the same as Osama bin Laden
." According to another local woman, "We lived in democracy under Muammer Gaddafi, he was not a dictator. I lived in freedom, Libyan women had full human rights. It isn't that we need Muammer Gaddafi again, but we want to live just as we did before." A local elderly woman stated "They are killing our children. Why are they doing this? For what? Life was good before!"
ese refugees from Eastern Libya have reported that a twelve-year-old Sudanese girl was raped by armed men that forced them out of their homes. A Gambian man shown to journalists by anti-Gaddafi forces reported that he had been dragged from his house by three armed men who accused him of being a mercenary of Gaddafi and raped his wife.
called on coalition forces to protect its citizens in rebel-held areas in Libya. It claimed that dozens had been accused and executed for allegedly being mercenaries in the pay of Gaddafi.
A Turkish
oil worker reported witnessing the murder of 70 to 80 Sudanese and Chadian guest workers with pruning shears and axes by Libyans who accused them of being Gaddafi mercenaries.
HRW's Peter Bouckaert visited Bayda where 156 supposed mercenaries were being held captive. He reported that these men are actually black Libyans from Southern Libya. He argued that the support of the black southern Libyans for the Gaddafi regime was explicable as Gaddafi fought to counter discrimination against this group in Libyan society. In the same interview, Bouckaert also said that those 156 individuals were released by the rebels less than two weeks after being captured.
. After mentioning casualties during government forces attack he said about the migrant workers that "…some have also died in clashes with the, err, rebel fighters. They were protesting about the conditions, demanding that they should be repatriated and on a couple of occasions this has led to the rebels opening fire and, err, people dying."
2011 Libyan civil war
The 2011 Libyan civil war was an armed conflict in the North African state of Libya, fought between forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and those seeking to oust his government. The war was preceded by protests in Benghazi beginning on 15 February 2011, which led to clashes with security...
has been followed by accusations of human-rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
violations by the rebel forces opposed to Muammar Gaddafi
Muammar Gaddafi
Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar Gaddafi or "September 1942" 20 October 2011), commonly known as Muammar Gaddafi or Colonel Gaddafi, was the official ruler of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then the "Brother Leader" of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011.He seized power in a...
, the Armed Forces and NATO. The alleged violations include rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
, extrajudicial killings, racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
, misconduct
Misconduct
A misconduct is a legal term meaning a wrongful, improper, or unlawful conduct motivated by premeditated or intentional purpose or by obstinate indifference to the consequences of one's acts....
and bombings of civilians.
Claims of systematic shooting at protesters
Luis Moreno OcampoLuis Moreno Ocampo
José Luis Moreno OcampoMoreno Ocampo's surnames are often hyphenated in English-language media to distinguish Moreno as a surname, rather than a given name. is an Argentine lawyer who has been the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court since June 16, 2003...
, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court
International Criminal Court
The International Criminal Court is a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression .It came into being on 1 July 2002—the date its founding treaty, the Rome Statute of the...
, estimated that between 500 and 700 people were killed by Gaddafi's security forces in February 2011, before the rebels even took up arms. "Shooting at protestors was systematic," Moreno-Ocampo stated, discussing the Libyan government's response to the initial pro-democracy demonstrations.
The Libyan government denies that they ordered killings of demonstrators in the early days of the uprising. They say that soldiers acted in self defense as they were attacked by mobs.
Moreno-Ocampo further stated that during the ongoing civil war, "War crimes are apparently committed as a matter of policy" by forces loyal to Gaddafi.
This is further supported by claims of Human Rights Watch, that 10 protesters, who had already agreed to lay down arms, were executed by a government paramilitary group in Bani Walid
Bani Walid
Bani Walid or Ben Walid, prior to 2007, was one of the districts of Libya. In the 2007 administrative reorganization the territory formerly in Bani Walid District was transferred to Misrata District.Bani Walid bordered the following districts:...
in May.
In June 2011, a detailed investigation carried out by Amnesty International found that many of the allegations against Gaddafi and the Libyan state turned out to either be false or lack any credible evidence, noting that rebels at times appeared to have knowingly made false claims or manufactured evidence. According to the Amnesty investigation, the number of casualties was heavily exaggerated, some of the protesters may have been armed, "there is no proof of mass killing of civilians on the scale of Syria or Yemen," and there is no evidence that aircraft or heavy anti-aircraft machine guns were used against crowds. It also doubted claims from the Western media that the protest movement was "entirely peaceful" and "presented no security challenge."
In July 2011, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi had an interview with Russia Today
RT (TV network)
RT, previously known as Russia Today, is a global multilingual television news network based in the Russian Federation run by the state-owned state-run RIA Novosti....
, where he denied the ICC's allegations that he or his father Muammar Gaddafi ordered the killing of civilian protesters. He pointed out that he is not a member of the government or the military, and therefore has no authority to give such orders. According to Saif, he made recorded calls to General Abdul Fatah
Abdul Fatah Younis
Abdul Fatah Younis , sometimes transliterated Fattah Younis or Fattah Younes or Fatah Younes, was a senior military officer in Libya. He held the rank of Major General and the post of Minister of Interior, but resigned on 22 February 2011 to defect to the rebel side in what was to become the 2011...
, who later defected to the rebel forces, in order to request not to use force against protesters, to which Fatah responded that they are attacking a military site, where surprised guards fired in self-defense.
Allegations of mass rape
A Libyan psychologist, Siham Sergewa, conducted a survey of refugees in TunisiaTunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
and Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
to document the trauma of the civil war. Nearly 300 women were reported to have been raped. The real number could be much higher, considering the stigma attached to rape victims in Libyan society. Every single woman in the survey who admitted to being raped, said they were raped by Gaddafi's soldiers or militiamen.
However, United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
war-crimes expert
War crime
War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...
M. Cherif Bassiouni, Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
(HRW), Doctors Without Borders and Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
say that they have found no evidence of systematic rape conducted by the Libyan government. Amnesty International's Donatella Rovera said that the Benghazi rebels had knowingly made false claims or manufactured evidence, quoting one example of pristine boxes of Viagra that the rebels said were found inside a totally burned out tank belonging to Gaddafi's troops. This raised serious doubts about the claim that Gaddafi handed out Viagra to his soldiers to enable them to rape more efficiently.
Use of land mines as a means of war
HRW has confirmed claims of rebels, that laying land mineLand mine
A land mine is usually a weight-triggered explosive device which is intended to damage a target—either human or inanimate—by means of a blast and/or fragment impact....
s is widespread by the Libyan government forces as a means of war. It found them on at least six different locations in Libya, mostly on frontlines of the Gaddafi forces. Among these land mines are not only anti-tank mines, but also anti-personnel mines, which can permanently pose a threat to civilians.
Shelling of civilian areas
Gaddafi forces have been accused by human-rights groups of shelling towns with heavy weapons, risking civilian lives indiscriminately. The most accusations refer to the siege of Misrata, accusing Gaddafi forces of targeting hospitals and civilian areas, also using internationally outlawed cluster bombs of Spanish production as ammunition, having risked the lives of civilians.Other abuses of non-combatants
A Human Rights Watch report documents the "unlawful occupation and terror of hospital staff" by pro-Government forces in Yafran in the western mountains, risking the lives of the patients and terrifying the staff contrary to international law.Execution of prisoners of war
A group of 15 to 22 Libyan army soldiers captured in Derna were reportedly executed in the village of Martuba, 20 kilometres (12.4 mi) east of Derna. According to a widely circulated story, the men were claimed to have been "executed by their own officers for disobeying orders".Another group of 15 dark-skinned Libyan prisoners were publicly executed by hanging in front of the Bayda courthouse.
Murder and torture of injured soldiers
On 17 February, the Bayda hospital admitted two injured men, one of black complexion, and the other of olive complexion. The men were accused of fighting against the rebels. A hospital doctor claimed that the black man was murdered and hung by an angry mob that had gathered around the hospital. The other injured man was reportedly beaten, shot and returned to the emergency room.Lootings and beatings
In four towns in the western mountains captured in June by the opposition, HRW noticed lootings of private property and beatings of alleged Gaddafi sympathizers by rebel forces. The National Transitional CouncilNational Transitional Council
The National Transitional Council of Libya , sometimes known as the Transitional National Council, the Interim National Council, or the Libyan National Council,...
(NTC) then pledged to hold responsible the causers of the attacks and to prevent such abuses in the future.
Killing of civilians
During the Battle of SirteBattle of Sirte (2011)
The Battle of Sirte was a battle of the 2011 Libyan civil war that began when the National Liberation Army attacked forces loyal to ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi in his hometown and designated capital of Sirte, on the Gulf of Sidra...
, the rebels killed many civilians, including men, women, and children, while there were also reports of the rebels harassing and stealing from the locals. According to one resident, "The rebels are worse than rats. Nato is the same as Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
." According to another local woman, "We lived in democracy under Muammer Gaddafi, he was not a dictator. I lived in freedom, Libyan women had full human rights. It isn't that we need Muammer Gaddafi again, but we want to live just as we did before." A local elderly woman stated "They are killing our children. Why are they doing this? For what? Life was good before!"
Allegations of usage of African mercenaries
Some journalists have accused human-rights organizations of falsifying claims, that Gaddafi was using mercenaries from other parts of Africa to attack protesters, however the presence of mercenaries from countries such as Chad, Niger, and Mali has been confirmed by Gaddafi's former Chief of Protocol Nouri Al Misrahi.Rape of black Africans
SudanSudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
ese refugees from Eastern Libya have reported that a twelve-year-old Sudanese girl was raped by armed men that forced them out of their homes. A Gambian man shown to journalists by anti-Gaddafi forces reported that he had been dragged from his house by three armed men who accused him of being a mercenary of Gaddafi and raped his wife.
Murder of guest workers and black Libyans
The Chadian governmentGovernment of Chad
The Government of Chad has been ruled and controlled by Idriss Déby and his Patriotic Salvation Movement since December 2, 1990, and officially since February 28, 1991. An amendment to the Constitution of Chad, passed in 2005, allowed Déby to run for his next term which will be his third...
called on coalition forces to protect its citizens in rebel-held areas in Libya. It claimed that dozens had been accused and executed for allegedly being mercenaries in the pay of Gaddafi.
A Turkish
Turkish people
Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...
oil worker reported witnessing the murder of 70 to 80 Sudanese and Chadian guest workers with pruning shears and axes by Libyans who accused them of being Gaddafi mercenaries.
HRW's Peter Bouckaert visited Bayda where 156 supposed mercenaries were being held captive. He reported that these men are actually black Libyans from Southern Libya. He argued that the support of the black southern Libyans for the Gaddafi regime was explicable as Gaddafi fought to counter discrimination against this group in Libyan society. In the same interview, Bouckaert also said that those 156 individuals were released by the rebels less than two weeks after being captured.
Forced expulsion of black families
Sudanese refugees from Eastern Libya reported that armed men went door to door and forced them to leave their homes.Murder of unarmed migrant workers
Killings of unarmed migrant workers by rebels have been described. On 18 April, a British reporter who had just arrived at Benghazi by sea from Misrata described the sufferings of large numbers of migrant workers trapped in Misrata in a broadcast on BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
. After mentioning casualties during government forces attack he said about the migrant workers that "…some have also died in clashes with the, err, rebel fighters. They were protesting about the conditions, demanding that they should be repatriated and on a couple of occasions this has led to the rebels opening fire and, err, people dying."