Human Rights Watch criticizes crackdown on CSOs by Tripoli-based government

The Tripoli-based Government of National Unity and other Libyan authorities are “cracking down on nongovernmental domestic and foreign organizations,” Human Rights Watch said today, calling on the government to withdraw “onerous registration and administration requirements and ensure that civic groups are free to operate.”

“Libyan authorities are crushing civic space using the tired pretext of enforcing regulations,” said Hanan Salah, associate Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities should instead be protecting that space by upholding the right to freedom of association.”

The statements by Human Rights Watch comes in response to months of increasing restrictions on civic group activities in Libya.

On March 8, the Law Department of the Supreme Judicial Council, which oversees judicial affairs and the legal profession, issued an edict in response to a request by the Tripoli Commission of Civil Society declaring, “illegal all civil associations and civil society organizations not established based on the provisions of Law 19/2001 on Nongovernmental Organizations.” The edict also specified that civic groups established under any other regulations were “null and void.”

In response, on March 13, the GNU issued a circular ordering all government institutions to uphold it until further notice. On March 21, the GNU retracted this statement and gave nongovernmental organizations provisional legal standing until they “correct their legal status,” without providing a clear timeline.

The Gaddafi-era Law 19/2001 on the Reorganization of Nongovernmental Organizations greatly restricts civil society work, permitting registration only for groups with a mandate to work on social, cultural, sports-oriented, charitable or humanitarian issues, but not other issues including human rights. The government did not clarify how such organizations can legally operate.

“For years, Libyan authorities and various armed groups around the country have restricted the ability of nongovernmental groups and their staff members to operate,” Human Rights Watch said.

“Since late 2022, the authorities have also greatly limited entry visas for non-Libyan staff of humanitarian agencies and nongovernment organizations, including Human Rights Watch and other rights groups,” said the international nongovernmental organization.

“Human Rights Watch has received no response from GNU authorities to its applications for entry visas since October 2022,” it added.

The United Nations Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Libya in its March report found, “attacks against … human rights defenders, women’s rights activists, journalists and civil society associations have created an atmosphere of fear that has sent persons into self-censorship, hiding or exile.”

The Fact-Finding Mission said the GNU authorities did not give them access to detention facilities anywhere in Libya during their two-year mandate.

Human Rights Rights list a number of measures that  Libyan legislators and authorities should ensure “as a matter of priority” to address the ongoing restrictions against civil society organizations and foreign non-governmental organizations.

First, Human Rights Watch called on Libyan authorities to “adopt a civil society organization law that guarantees the right to freedom of association and expression consistent with international law and best practices”.

Secondly, it called for the reforming Libya’s Penal Code articles that “undermine freedom of association and assembly, redefining criminal acts to exclude peaceful exercise of the right to express opinions, assemble, and establish associations”.

The organization urged the authorities to repeal the death penalty as a punishment for establishing or participating in unlawful organizations. Finally, Human Rights Watch instead upon the free establishment of civil society organizations “without restriction on what they advocate or promote, with the exception of acts of violence, incitement to imminent violence, or other serious crimes”.

The organization concluded by affirming that any suspension or dissolution of a nongovernmental organization should take place only by judicial order and in response to serious violations of national law that “result in a clear and imminent danger.”