The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights brought together 22 legislators, legal experts and civil society actors on 23 April to work on draft reconciliation legislation for the country, according to UNSMIL.
During the two-day workshop in Tunis, participants combined two draft legislations that have been separately developed – one by a legal committee formed by the Presidential Council as part of its mandate and one prepared by the House of Representatives, UNSMIL said in a statement today.
The group, which included representatives from both of these bodies as well as the High Council of State and the Constitutional Drafting Assembly, went through the unified draft law line by line, discussing contentious points and proposing solutions, while ensuring the law reflects international best practices in transitional justice and reconciliation, the statement pointed out.
Participants discussed the role of amnesties and the importance of memorialization in Libya’s reconciliation process, and whether a reparations program should target individuals or the collective, it added.
The group also considered the type of violations that the law will cover and the selection mechanism for members of a future truth and justice reconciliation commission.
By the end of the workshop, the participants had agreed on a single comprehensive draft law, which will now be submitted to the House of Representatives Justice and Reconciliation Committee before going to the House of Representatives for a plenary vote.
This is the first time representatives from the Presidential Council’s legal committee, the House of Representatives and the High Council of State, have met to discuss the details of a reconciliation and transitional justice law, said UNSMIL.