Routes to Justice for Migrants in Libya

Thanks to your incredible generosity, we were able to continue building momentum and support for #RoutesToJustice. Over the past three months, the project team worked to begin identifying victims and to document cases that support our planned efforts to litigate and provide redress to migrants who faced human rights abuses in Libya.   

We continued to monitor the situation of migrants in Libya closely and, in particular, noted the proposal made by Italy to EU heads of state for the creation of migrant reception and identification centres in Libya’s southern borders despite the high risk of human rights violations resulting. In our responsive statement, we called for all heads of government at the European Summit to reject the proposal and commit to a sustainable, human rights based approach to migration that places the safety, dignity and protection of migrants at its center. Director Elham Saudi commented:

“Italy’s proposal neither resolves the underlying issues causing the migration crisis nor offers any prospect of support for those affected by it. Instead, it is an attempt to deter migrants through encouraging their containment at Libya’s borders in conditions that place them at high risk of severe human rights violations. This policy, which encourages human rights abuses against those who attempt to cross borders, is unethical, ineffective and unlawful.”

Recent months were marked by a series of international days promoting the human rights of refugees and victims of torture, the prohibition of trafficking in persons and the abolition of slavery. To mark the international days LFJL posted videos, statistics and legal analysis of the situation in Libya across its social media platforms in order to raise awareness of the human rights abuses faced by migrants in Libya as well as to increase the visibility of, and support for, #RoutesToJustice.

Offline, LFJL worked to engage members of the public through events and media. LFJL participated in the Ramadan Tent Project where it recruited supporters who were keen to learn more about the project and fundraised for #RoutesToJustice by holding a bake sale. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan guest spoke at one of the events that LFJL participated in and we were able to bring the project to his attention. We were also fortunate to be invited by George the Poet to attend two of his recent shows wherein he highlighted the need for #RoutesToJustice to his audience and allowed us to present the project to those who wanted to find out more.

On an organisational level, we recently announced the formation of our Advisory Board. The Advisory Board is tasked with guiding LFJL to achieve its mission statement: a Libya which embodies the values and principles of human rights and the rule of law and is a society committed to justice. The Advisory Board members’ formidable wealth of experiences, skills, and perspectives will undoubtedly be a huge asset in implementing our rights-based approach across all of our programmes, but we are especially excited about involving them in #RoutesToJustice. Read the Advisory Board’s biographies here.    

What next?

We have recently hired a new Head of Accountability who is a barrister qualified in two jurisdictions and who has significant experience litigating human rights cases across North Africa. She joins us from the middle of October and we are hugely excited to bring her onto the project. We look forward to sharing her biography and plans for the project with you in due course!

We will continue to keep you updated on the progress of the project through GlobalGiving, however please don’t forget to subscribe to our mailing list here to stay tuned and follow all of our work across our programmes. Many thanks again from all the LFJL team for supporting our work!