A/HRC/31/47
abductions. In areas controlled by groups pledging allegiance to ISIL, OHCHR received
reports that girls were not allowed to attend school or were permitted only if wearing a fullface veil. OHCHR also received reports of girls being attacked and harassed by armed
groups on their way to school in Tripoli.
59.
OHCHR received information on the forced recruitment and use of children in
hostilities by groups pledging allegiance to ISIL. OHCHR interviewed two boys, aged 10
and 14 years, who had been forcibly taken from their families. They had been forced to
undergo religious and military training and to watch videos of beheadings. They were also
sexually abused. One boy interviewed by OHCHR, who was “attached in service” to a
foreign fighter and was responsible for cleaning clothes and delivering food, reported that,
most evenings, “I knew what I had to do, I had to take my clothes off and turn around and
bend over facing the wall”. According to a press report, the “Islamic State” in Sirte
welcomed the “graduation” of 85 boys below the age of 16, describing them as the
“Khilapha [Caliphate] Cubs”.11 OHCHR also documented a case in which a child was used
to detonate a bomb in a vehicle by a group pledging allegiance to ISIL in Derna, in June
2015.
VI. Overall findings
60.
On the basis of the information collected and analysed, there are reasonable grounds
to conclude that there were widespread violations of international human rights law and
international humanitarian law, and abuses of human rights in Libya throughout 2014 and
2015. These acts, which were committed by all parties to the conflict in Libya, included
unlawful killings and executions; indiscriminate attacks, with an impact on civilians and
civilian objects; attacks against and attacks having an impact on persons and objects
protected under international humanitarian law; unwarranted destruction, appropriation and
looting of private property; cases of arbitrary detention, abduction and disappearances,
including enforced disappearances; torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment
or punishment; sexual and gender-based violence, and other forms of gender-based
discrimination; and violations of economic, social and cultural rights.
61.
Judicial actors and court facilities have been attacked. Human rights defenders and
journalists have been subject to intimidation and attacks, including assassinations. Women
have faced additional repressive measures curtailing their freedoms. Migrants have been
arbitrarily detained or deprived of their liberty, frequently in inhumane conditions, and
subjected to financial exploitation and forced labour. Tawerghan community members have
been subjected to discrimination, and reported having been subjected to arbitrary detention
and ill-treatment. Children have faced challenges to their enjoyment of their rights,
including education. Groups pledging allegiance to ISIL have forcibly recruited and used
children in hostilities and, in some cases, subjected them to sexual abuse.
62.
Violations and abuses have not been limited to one area of Libya or to one actor;
OHCHR documented such acts having also been perpetrated by State actors and armed
groups, some of which affiliated with Libya Dawn or Operation Dignity. Other groups may
be acting independently. Some actors were named with particular frequency during the
investigation as being responsible for violations and abuses, including Operation Dignity
forces and armed groups, such as the Al-Sai’qa Brigades of the Libyan National Army and
Awliaa al-Damm; armed groups affiliated with Libya Dawn; Ansar al-Sharia; groups
pledging allegiance to ISIL; and tribal armed groups in the south. Allegations were
11
See Saber Ayyub, “IS to graduate 85 suicide ‘Caliphate Cubs’ in Sirte tomorrow”, Libya Herald, 3
December 2015.
13
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