GENEVA, JULY 6 – Addressing the Interactive Dialogue with the Fact-Finding Mission on Libya during the 50th Session of the Human Rights Council, the Permanent Representative of Italy to the United Nations in Geneva, Ambassador Gian Lorenzo Cornado, took the floor today to stress “the need for full accountability for those responsible of grave violations in order to fight impunity, restore justice and foster national reconcilitation’’. Cornado welcomed the report presented today by the Mission and he expressed appreciation for the work done so far by the Members of the Fact-Finding Mission, reiterating Italy’s continued support to their mandate.
“Attempts to keep Libya divided”
Ambassador Cornado restated Italy’s deep concern for the human rights violations and international humanitarian law breaches that occurred in Libya, including the attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructures, widely documented by the FFM. He also deplored the attempts to keep Libya divided, he commended the work done by the Special Advisor to the UN Secretary General for Libya, Stephanie Williams, calling on all parties to grant immediate, unimpeded and free access to the members of the FFM, in order to allow them to fulfill and complete their mandate.
“A culture of impunity”
New suspected mass graves have been uncovered in Tarhuna, Libya, a Human Rights Council probe reported on Monday, highlighting continuing extreme rights abuses in the country that have affected children and adults alike. Speaking in Geneva, Mohamed Auajjar, chair of the Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Libya, told journalists that a culture of impunity still prevailed across the war-torn country, representing “a great obstacle” to national reconciliation, truth and justice for the victims and their families.
Regarding Tarhuna specifically, the report gathered testimonies and found evidence of “widespread and systematic perpetration of enforced disappearances, extermination, murder, torture and imprisonment amounting to crimes against humanity, committed by Al Kani (Kaniyat) militias”. (@OnuItalia)
