Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research - Libya

Weekly News Roundup: Monitoring, Reporting, and Fact-finding (September 27, 2013)

Aruni Jayakody — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 18:37:45 +0000

Blog Type:

IHL in Action

[As part of its research and policy project on monitoring, reporting, and fact-finding, the Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research (HPCR) at Harvard University aggregates news detailing recent developments in this domain. For more information about this project, visit the project’s web page.]

The Secretary-General’s chemical weapons investigation team returned to Syria to continue to gather information about fourteen other alleged incidents of chemical weapons use.
At the 24th session of the Human Rights Council, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, provided an oral update on her recent fact-finding mission to Sri Lanka. She stated that if Sri Lanka has not made substantive progress on investigating alleged war crimes by March 2014, the international community holds a duty to appoint an international commission of inquiry.
The Libyan government has decided to establish a national commission to investigate human rights abuses under the former Gadhafi regime.
Paulo Pinheiro, Chair of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Syria, stated that before the end of the year, his commission will offer comments about who the perpetrators were in the August 21st chemical weapons attack in Syria. This commission, established by the Human Rights Council, is separate from the Secretary-General’s chemical weapons investigation, headed by Dr. Åke Sellström.

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Syria

Sri Lanka

Libya

Weekly News Roundup: Monitoring, Reporting, and Fact-finding (April 19, 2013)

Rob Grace — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 18:11:13 +0000

Blog Type:

IHL in Action

During a visit to Burkina Faso, Ben Emmerson, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism, called on international actors to support Burkina Faso’s efforts to mitigate threats of terrorism. As Mr. Emmerson noted, Burkina Faso borders both Nigeria and Mali and suffers from widespread poverty.
This summer, the Europa Institute of the Leiden University Law School will host a seminar entitled, “Fact Finding in Human Rights Litigation: Perspectives on Questions of Evidence before the European Court of Human Rights.” Click here for registration information.
The Guardian reported that a portion of a fact-finding report submitted to Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi in January has been leaked. President Morsi created the fact-finding committee in July 2012 to gather information related to violent incidents involving political and military personnel during the 2011 uprising, but the report has yet to be made public. The leaked portion of the report accuses members of the Egyptian military of responsibility for acts of torture, disappearances, and killings.
The Democratic Alliance — the opposition political party in South Africa — has called for the creation of a commission of inquiry into police brutality following the release of a video depicting a violent incident involving police officers. This statement follows a similar call — which South African President Jacob Zuma dismissed — that the Democratic Alliance issued last month.
A piece published last week by EJIL Talk provides an assessment of the legal analysis of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Syria.
The Center for Human Rights Science at Carnegie Melon University will undertake a study of the effect of social media and big data analytics on human rights fact-finding.
Gabriela Knaul, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges of lawyers, will visit the Russian Federation between April 15 and 25 to gather information about the legal system in the country.
Surveillance drones may replace peacekeepers for the United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI). UNOCI forces are scheduled to draw down later this year. A spokesperson from UNOCI stated, “The use of drones would enhance the monitoring capacity of the UN mission in Ivory Coast, especially its surveillance and information gathering (...)."
Rashida Manjoo — the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences — will begin a ten-day visit to India on April 22. Ms. Manjoo will meet with government authorities as well as members of civil society.

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MRF

mali

Nigeria

Libya

South Africa

Russia

India

Burkina Faso

Allegations of IHL Violations in Libya

Rob Grace — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:26:43 +0000

Blog Type:

IHL in Action

Last week, the Independent Civil Society (ICS) Fact-Finding Mission to Libya published a report documenting alleged violations of international law committed in Libya since the beginning of the 2011 uprising. The ICS mission was a coordinated effort of three Middle East-based organizations: the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, the Arab Organization for Human Rights, and the International Legal Assistance Consortium. See here for the full report.

In many areas, the mission’s findings echo the initial findings of the Commission of Inquiry on Libya authorized by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in March 2011. (See here for the UNHRC commission’s original mandate, here for the commission’s initial report, here for the mandate extension authorized by the UNHRC last June, as well as here and here for summaries of interactive dialogues held last year between the commission and the UNHRC. The commission is still active in Libya and is due to produce a final report by March 2012.)

The ICS mission heard allegations that pro-Qaddafi forces were responsible for, among other violations, use of excessive force against peaceful protesters, mass arrests of political opponents, torture, indiscriminate attacks against civilians, and rape — all of which are also detailed in the UNHRC commission’s report. Additionally, the ICS report expresses concern about allegations regarding the Qaddafi killing, other revenge killings perpetrated by anti-Qaddafi forces, and mass arrests of dark skinned non-nationals (all of which the UNHRC commission has addressed as well, as noted here).

However, the ICS mission’s statements about the legality of NATO’s operations in Libya differ in certain respects from those of the UNHRC commission. While the UNHRC commission’s June 2011 report states, “[T]he Commission has not seen evidence to suggest that civilian areas have been intentionally targeted by NATO forces, nor that it has engaged in indiscriminate attacks on civilians” (see para. 235), the ICS report asserts that “the criteria and procedures used [by NATO] to classify civilian objects as military objects raises concerns and warrants effective further investigation.” Additionally, the ICS report states that “it appears that NATO participated in what could be classified as offensive actions,” thus potentially exceeding the legal authorization provided by United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in resolution 1973. (Decided under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, resolution 1973 authorized United Nations Member States “to take all necessary measures... to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack” and to enforce a no-fly zone in Libya.)

Allegations about NATO’s actions in Libya have already drawn the attention of the International Criminal Court (ICC). In November 2011, the ICC informed the UNSC that “there are allegations of crimes committed by NATO forces [and] these allegations will be examined impartially and independently.” But press reports suggest that the ICC intends to base its decision about opening a formal investigation on the UNHRC commission’s final findings.

For additional resources on international legal aspects of the situation in Libya, see a previous HPCR blog entry on alleged extrajudicial killings committed by anti-Qaddafi forces, HPCR blog entries here and here on the complexities of the conflict’s legal classification, and a recording of HPCR’s live web seminar — “The Crisis in Libya: The International Response” — from April 2011.

Blog Tags:

Libya

MRF

Reports of "Extrajudicial Killings" in Libya

Rob Grace — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 17:10:43 +0000

Blog Type:

IHL in Action

After last week’s reported capture and subsequent killing of Muammar Qaddafi, elements of the United Nations expressed various levels of concern at the incident. Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, called for a probe into the killing. Philippe Kirsch — who leads the International Commission of Inquiry on Libya, which is mandated by the UN Human Rights Council to investigate violations of international human rights law in the country — called on the National Transitional Council (NTC) to ensure that detainees’ human rights are respected. And Christof Heyns, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions, stated that the killing might constitute a war crime (watch an interview with him here).

Additionally, Jurist reports that Qaddafi’s family intends to file a complaint against NATO about the killing with the International Criminal Court (ICC). (Qaddafi’s daughter instituted legal proceedings earlier this year in Belgium over a NATO bombing that killed several of her family members, but Belgian prosecutors declined to prosecute, citing jurisdictional reasons.)

The NTC launched an investigation into the Qaddafi killing. According to the NTC’s deputy chief, Abdel Hafiz Ghoga:

We have issued a code of ethics in handling of prisoners of war. I am sure that was an individual act and not an act of revolutionaries or the national army. Whoever is responsible for that [Gaddafi's killing] will be judged and given a fair trial.

But the Qaddafi killing is just one of many reported incidents contributing to the international community’s growing concern over the NTC’s purported record on “extrajudicial killings.” For instance, the International Commission of Inquiry on Libya’s report released in June indicated, among other findings, that the “Commission received several accounts of attacks on migrant workers carried out by armed opposition groups.” The report called on the NTC “in particular to investigate [human rights and IHL violations] with a view to prosecuting cases of extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and torture with full respect of judicial guarantees….”

Additionally, in September, Amnesty International published a report, “The Battle for Libya – Killings, Disappearances, and Torture,” that examined purported “extrajudicial killings” committed by armed opposition fighters in Libya. Later that month, after news reports indicated that rebel forces might be guilty of committing summary executions, the NTC pledged that their detainees “have the right to an appropriate trial before an ordinary judge and according to international law.” And earlier this week, Human Rights Watch announced the discovery of 53 bodies in Sirte that were apparently victims of a mass execution committed by anti-Qaddafi fighters.

For some primers on the international legal standards proscribing extrajudicial killings, see Philip Alston’s 2010 “Report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions,” as well as HPCR’s policy brief on targeted killing.

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Libya

ICC

extrajudicial killing

Qaddafi

Does the situation in Libya constitute a non-international armed conflict?

Dustin Lewis — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 20:53:28 +0000

Blog Type:

IHL in Action

Recent reports of the use of force against civilians in Libya raise an important question: when does a situation in which a state commits violence against its civilians amount to a non-international armed conflict? The question is significant for a variety of reasons, not least because international law provides a range of modalities through which a state or international body may address use-of-force violations, and discerning which modalities may be utilized often requires a legal characterization of the situation in which the violations were committed.

For instance, war crimes may occur only in situations of armed conflict. (For recent assessments of the grave breaches regime of IHL, see the collection of articles in Volume 7, Issue 4 of the Journal of International Criminal Justice; it is important to note that in addition to grave breaches of IHL, under the International Criminal Court's statute other serious violations of the laws of armed conflict, whether committed in international or non-international armed conflict, may give rise to individual criminal responsibility.) According to the ICC's statute, crimes against humanity may occur in situations outside of armed conflict. These distinctions regarding situational predicates gained renewed salience when the UN Security Council referred the situation in Libya since February 15, 2011 to the ICC prosecutor.

To determine whether a situation of violence amounts to a non-international armed conflict, certain international bodies, as recently detailed by Anthony Cullen, have employed a two-pronged test. The first prong is the intensity of hostilities, and the second prong is the organization of the armed group(s).

In its 2008 judgment in the Prosecutor v. Boškoski et al. case, Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) identified factors that could be used to indicate each prong. As for the first prong, Trial Chamber II stated in para. 177 (footnotes omitted) that:

Various indicative factors have been taken into account by Trial Chambers to assess the “intensity” of the conflict. These include the seriousness of attacks and whether there has been an increase in armed clashes, the spread of clashes over territory and over a period of time, any increase in the number of government forces and mobilisation and the distribution of weapons among both parties to the conflict, as well as whether the conflict has attracted the attention of the United Nations Security Council, and whether any resolutions on the matter have been passed. Trial Chambers have also taken into account in this respect the number of civilians forced to flee from the combat zones; the type of weapons used, in particular the use of heavy weapons, and other military equipment, such as tanks and other heavy vehicles; the blocking or besieging of towns and the heavy shelling of these towns; the extent of and the number of casualties caused by shelling or fighting; the quantity of troops and units deployed; existence and change of front lines between the parties; the occupation of territory, and towns and villages; the deployment of government forces to the crisis area; the closure of roads; cease fire orders and agreements, and the attempt of representatives from international organisations to broker and enforce cease fire agreements.

As for the second prong, the trial chamber identified five broad groups of factors that may indicate whether an entity constitutes an “organized armed group” for purposes of IHL. Paraphrased, those broad groups are: (1) factors signalling the presence of a command structure; (2) factors indicating that the group could carry out organized operations; (3) factors indicating a level of logistics; (4) factors relevant to determining if the group possessed a level of discipline and the ability to implement IHL; and (5) factors indicating that the group could speak with one voice (paras. 199-203).

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Libya

Qualification

NIAC

ICTY

ICC