TRIPOLI – During the second in-person meeting in Tripoli from 8 to 12 February, members of the Structured Dialogue’s National Reconciliation and Human Rights Track addressed the threat of judiciary fragmentation. They also discussed interlinkages with the Governance and Security Tracks, including how electoral processes and the fragile security context impact human rights.
Members highlighted persistent legal, institutional and security challenges undermining implementation of credible and inclusive elections. The importance of election monitoring by civil society, and the judiciary’s role in safeguarding electoral rights and adjudicating disputes was emphasized. They expressed the need for all parties to respect election outcomes.
The Track further engaged in an online consultation with representatives of Libyan civil society organizations and human rights defenders outside of the country. The exchange formed part of efforts to open the dialogue to broader segments of the Libyan civil society. Special Representative of the Secretary General, Hanna Tetteh, joined the discussion to hear their diverse perspectives, and lived experiences to further strengthen a rights-based and victim-centred approach essential for a political process and sustainable reconciliation. Participants welcomed the consultation as an important first step toward enhancing the inclusion of Libyan civil society actors abroad in the Structured Dialogue. They pointed out that many continue their work from outside Libya due to security challenges. They noted that the consultations provide a basis for sustained engagement.
Civil society representatives put forward concrete suggestions, building on previous processes. The need for freedom of expression was stressed with the need to establish protection measures for journalists, human rights defenders, and women electoral candidates who face harassment and digital violence. They also highlighted concerns related to arbitrary detention, calling for their release. Civil society participants further underscored the importance of preserving a unified and independent judiciary capable of ensuring oversight, accountability, and public trust.
Civil society representatives highlighted the need for any national reconciliation process to be grounded in human rights, with victims and survivors at its center. Members stressed the importance of meaningfully involving CSOs both inside and outside Libya, ensuring that voices including from all cultural components, youth, women, persons with disabilities and all regions are heard and amplified.
“This is a Libyan-owned and Libyan-led process,” stressed SRSG Tetteh. “The work of the structured dialogue is challenging because you are being requested to offer pragmatic solutions to problems that have been festering for a while, but I can see progress is being made and with the support and wisdom of all the members, I hope that we are going to be able to achieve a positive outcome where we can make elections happen, and which people have confidence in,” she said.
The work of the National Reconciliation and Human Rights Track aligns with UNSMIL’s mandate to use its good offices to facilitate an inclusive, Libyan-owned and led political process, without determining outcomes, and to advance consensus on governance arrangements toward elections and long-term stability. The group will reconvene in early April.
The Structured Dialogue is not a decision-making body for the selection of a new government but rather explores concrete recommendations to create a conducive environment for elections and address more immediate challenges in governance, economic, national reconciliation and human rights, and security in order to strengthen state institutions. By examining and developing policy and legislative proposals to address long-term conflict drivers, the work of the Structured Dialogue aims to build consensus on a national vision that will shape the path to stability.
