Mr. President, distinguished delegates, thank you so much for the opportunity and the honour to brief the Council once again today.
And I would wish to start, with your leave, by recognising and expressing my sincere thanks for the attendance of His Excellency the Permanent Representative of Libya to the United Nations for being present.
Mr. President, this is my second visit to Libya, and it's the second time I've had the opportunity to brief the Security Council from the soil of this land.
And it is only right to start by thanking the authorities here in Libya - the President, the Prime Minister, the Attorney General - for facilitating the trip, for the engagement and the support and the very constructive discussion, some of which I intend to touch upon in my remarks this morning.
I must also wish to thank my colleagues here in UNSMIL for facilitation of the mission.
This morning, I had the honour, my team had the honour of engaging with victims of Tarhunah.
Two years ago, I met them in Tarhunah itself, I spoke to them, and they spoke very candidly and movingly about their experiences, what they had suffered. I walked in the areas where their loved ones were tortured and killed, heard the accounts of calculated cruelty, and went to locations that became mass graves sites, where bodies were dumped after their lives were snuffed out. And today, one individual said something very simple and very true: that every household in Tarhunah has a victim. Every person that detailed a loss has suffered an end to their universe. And heartbreak was palpable and sincere even as they, in very dignified terms, expressed their sorrow but also their expectations of us, and of the Council, and of Libya itself.
And what was clearly expressed was a demand. For all the moving accounts, they have a steely determination, they have a clear conviction that justice and accountability and fair processes are essential for themselves, their families, their community and for Libya at large.
And I think that realisation of movement also gave rise to renewed hope. That things are moving in a direction away from talk, to action and a possibility of justice that they can feel and see and be part of.
As detailed in the written report that we have placed before the Security Council, on the 4th of October of this year, the respected Judges of Pre-Trial Chamber I unsealed the warrants for the arrest of six individuals from the Al Kaniyat armed groups, that we say are responsible for many Rome Statute crimes committed in Tarhunah.
And through independent investigations, through the excellent work of the team, through ever-improving cooperation with the Libyan authorities, we have uncovered and identified evidence of war crimes, including murder, outrages upon personal dignity, cruel treatment, torture, sexual violence, and rape that was committed, we say by the six individuals in Tarhunah.
And in this very profoundly moving meeting with victims themselves, mothers and fathers, siblings that had lost family members, we saw not only the determination I referenced, but a demand to me that I use this microphone, this platform that I've been honoured to be given to speak to you, to speak in their name, not in my own, to ask you, to convey to you their clear message, which was that they are pleased with the warrants, but what they want, what they are pleading for, what they are demanding is your help to help with the arrests of those individuals, and to ensure that there are trials that they can be part of. Trials where they can give evidence and speak for the violations that they've endured and for the family members that they've buried, or the family members that they are in search of, that are missing, whose bodies have not been identified or located.
Through the tracking activities of my Office, through the liaison with the Attorney General's Office, we have identified a number of those individuals subject to the warrants of arrest. We know where they are. We know where they are. What we need, as the victims have asked for, is your assistance to ensure that the judicial orders of the International Criminal Court, the orders of the Pre-Trial Chamber, are executed and those individuals can be arrested and brought and take part in fair, independent and impartial trials.
And I stand ready to work with everybody: the Government of Libya, people, communities, authorities in the North and the South of Libya, in the East and the West, members of the Council, obviously, State Parties and non-State Parties alike to make sure that those expectations of victims can be realised.
I think there is a glimmer of hope in the darkness for the people of Tarhunah.
And through this visit over the last two days, I think we have seen also a new paradigm shift in the nature of the progress that is actually possible. Progress is discernible and can be identified. And over the key lines of inquiry relating to this situation, we are also moving at speed in relation to investigations into detention facility crimes, crimes relating to the 2014 to 2020 period. And I confirm, and can alert the Council with respect, that we anticipate that in the next reporting period, there will be further applications for the warrants for the arrest of individuals relating to these inquiries. Some applications may be secret and ex-parte if there are arrest opportunities.
But we're also continuing to engage with other national authorities, including the Joint Investigative Team that is referenced in the report to make sure that we can support domestic accountability efforts equally, including in relation to migrants in Libya.
And I can confirm that we remain on track in implementing the roadmap that I laid out in my last briefing, which aims to conclude the investigative stage of proceedings, of investigations, by my Office by the end of 2025.
Now, this is an ambitious but achievable goal. It will not happen without Libya. It is absolutely dependent upon the continued, the deepening partnership with the Libyan authorities. We can't achieve this at all in isolation. It can be achieved by working together with our partners in Libya, with civil society, and with third states.
My meetings over the last two days have re-enforced my conviction that there is a window of opportunity, which requires imagination. It requires trust to be re-forged and rebuilt so that we can move forward on that potential and to realise it.
And I think in particular, the excellent cooperation, the excellent meeting I had with the Attorney General of Libya yesterday really was encouraging. In fact, we took, I think, some real steps in our discussion to talk about tracking of individuals, how we can build partnerships, the realisation that there can be trials, there need to be trials in The Hague and also trials in Libya, my openness for Libyan lawyers and investigators to appear with us in any trials in The Hague, and the willingness for my Office to support Libyan domestic processes where that is thought helpful, and where that could add value.
And indeed, there are many exciting initiatives that Libya is doing itself, including, the Attorney General said, the intention in March of next year to open a Law Enforcement and Cyber Training Centre. And we also had discussions about how we could help support that initiative and that Centre that could have wide implications in terms of law enforcement here in Libya.
But based, Mr. President, distinguished delegates, on those discussions, I was really delighted to confirm what the Attorney General himself made public yesterday. His announcement of a new mechanism that will be established to support the coordination of actions by my Office and his in the fields of investigations, prosecutions and complementarity. And I think very importantly, and great credit to the Attorney General, it was his suggestion. In addition to the Attorney General's Office and my Office, this will embrace other national bodies and other authorities relevant to the fight against impunity in Libya. So, this new mechanism that he announced yesterday evening is one that I hope has some latent potential that we can discuss, we can work with and speak to in our next report. And I strongly welcome this initiative of His Excellency the Attorney General of Libya.
And in fact, just an hour and a half ago or so, members of my team came back from speaking with officials of the Attorney General's Office to follow up on some of the very good discussions we had yesterday.
And my team similarly continues to engage with the authorities in the East of Libya, and I wish to underline my willingness to ensure that I again visit the East of Libya on my next visit to the country.
Yesterday, I have had excellent meetings, as I indicated, with the President. Also the first time I've met with the Prime Minister of Libya, and extremely positive. I think a real willingness to work in a new posture, to work in a new way, to move forward in new dynamic partnerships. And the President also takes great credit for appointing a new Ambassador of Libya to the Kingdom of The Netherlands, that also has been really helping the issuance of multiple-entry visas and facilitating more responsively to the requests for assistance and cooperation from members of my team.
And I think at the centre, at the heart of these discussions is a realisation that trials in The Hague are a product of partnership. They should be seen as a common endeavour, which demonstrates Libya's real efforts to work for the people of Libya, willingness to embrace work with my Office and the men and women of my Office, and a willingness of my Office to work and serve the people of Libya and work with the authorities. And this idea that these are not binary choices. This can be and must be seen as a collective success, demonstrating the courage of Libya, the resilience of Libyans, and their steadfast commitments to a brighter tomorrow. If that is etched more deeply in the narrative of discussions, I think it will be very positive all around.
And, in addition to the good meetings with those senior State officials, and in addition to meeting the victims that I've already mentioned, the victims, families of Tarhunah, the team has been really fantastic in intensifying engagement with civil society organisations over this reporting period.
In the last reporting period, the team have met more than 70 Libyan civil society organisations, human rights defenders to discuss their work, their expectations, and to make sure they are not an appendage. They are at the heart of our discussions, and we try to ensure that we are closely communicating.
And that itself was brought by the leadership of the team: new processes. The team in this Libya situation has put forward a new mechanism, in fact, for engaging civil society organisations every quarter. And the last one was in September, that the team, the head of the team who is just out of camera shot, the team members, and under the leadership of Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan, met with the civil society organisations in September. There is another meeting planned in January of next year, in which there is a very candid discussion of objectives when we talk about what we're doing and how we can work together.
And, in addition to that when it comes to civil society, I was pleased to note that the announcement that was detailed in our policy paper on Complementarity and Cooperation that was published in April, and the detailing of a new Structured Dialogue platform has already started. And in fact, just last week, the inaugural session of the OTP Civil Society Structured Dialogue was held in The Hague.
Now, it's right, the roadmap that we have detailed in the report has been received by some civil society organisations, by some partners, with trepidation, with some concern. The concern is their expectations of justice.
And what I've been trying to communicate, what the team has been trying to convey, what we will continue to try to explain, is that we're not finding a way to abdicate our responsibility. We're not finding a way in these reports or in these briefings to close a file at any price. We are in fact accelerating the work with clear goals, with clear objectives.
And that acceleration that we have detailed, that we are explaining also to our Libyan partners, is moving us more to a sprint. And if we can achieve those goals, in partnership with the authorities in Libya and civil society organisations, that simply will allow us to close the investigative stage of investigations, leading to renewed focus on arrests, and on trials that have to start to vindicate your decision to refer the Libya situation to us.
So, in the process of those trials, in the process of these court proceedings, again there may be many advantages to Libya, to civil society, to victims, to the quest for greater accountability and less impunity. And that focus, and the opening of other stages, as an investigative stage hopefully closes, I think when that is explained, that will reassure many of those individuals that had concerns.
So, Mr. President, Excellencies, the position is this: that two and a half years ago, I presented to the distinguished delegates of the Council what I described as a renewed approach to this situation in the hope that Security Council referrals would not be seen as never-ending stories, but would be seen by way of the investigations and the trials and the partnerships, the complementarity, to mean something to people that have been viewed as invisible, whose rights have been viewed as marginalised in their localities or in their regions.
And six months ago, I presented a roadmap for the completion of the investigative stage. I believe collectively, through these combined activities, these plans are working. The hopes, the expectations, the steely determination of victims need to be at the forefront of our minds.
It's not straightforward, it's not easy. One can't pretend there are no complications. Your Excellencies know far better than me, Libyans know far better than me, the difficulties, the political difficulties, the technical challenges, the trust issues that bedevil so many layers of Libyan society, and also the relationship with international organisations like the ICC.
But I really do believe that we're in a new place in which the authorities are willing to extend a hand, to take our hand, and for us to have these new discussions that give a possibility to new solutions for a problem that has been there for at least 13 years.
Because the truth of the matter is, as you know, in this 28th report, whilst there are new applications announced in Tarhunah, Libyans know in the North and the South and the East and the West that there are too many Tarhunahs in Libya.
There's too many people and families that have been fragmented, that have suffered, that are in tears, that feel unseen, and that want justice.
But if we stand together, if we work better together, if we communicate better with each other, having conversations that are honest and respectful and humble, it is my sincere belief there can be more space for justice and accountability that could help carve out more space for peace and reconciliation, and that also, God willing, could have the benefit of vindicating your decision 13 years ago to use Chapter VII of the Security Council to refer the Libya situation to my Office.
I thank you so much for the opportunity to brief you once again. Thank you.
