Libya - Human Rights Committee (LOIPR) - Death Penalty - August 2020
Country: Libya
Issues: Children's Rights, Death Penalty, Detention, Disability Rights, Due Process and Fair Trial, International Advocacy, Legal Representation, Torture
Mechanism: UN Human Rights Committee
Report Type: List of Issues Prior to Reporting
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The Advocates for Human Rights, together with The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, submitted a Suggested List of Issues Report Prior to Reporting to the 130th session of the Human Rights Committee concerning the death penalty in Libya.
Libya has not ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights aimed at the abolition of the death penalty as a legal form of punishment. Though Libya has observed a de facto moratorium on the death penalty since 2010, both military and civilian courts continue to pronounce death sentences. Death penalty practices also lack transparency due to limited reporting of the number of individuals on death row and a lack of information about the extent of enforcement of laws protecting certain groups of people from the death penalty. Additionally, limited government control over detention facilities puts detained individuals at higher risk of to torture and ill-treatment. Moreover, many incarcerated people lack access to legal counsel, information on charges they face, and the ability to secure a speedy and impartial trial.
The authors of this report suggest several questions for the Government of Libya:
- What steps has the government taken to implement an official moratorium on the death penalty?
- What steps has the Government of Libya taken to ensure that pregnant women, people with psycho-social disabilities, and individuals convicted of crimes committed under the age of 18 are not sentenced to death?
- What mechanisms are in place to monitor State prisons and respond to allegations of human rights abuses in the detention centers?
- What concrete measures is the government taking to ensure that people in detention are not held for extended periods of time without charge or without proper judicial review?
- Please elaborate on the steps taken by the government to ensure respect for the right of defendants to a fair trial and to adequate legal representation, particularly when they are at risk of being sentenced to death?
