A/HRC/31/47 I. Introduction A. Mandate 1. On 27 March 2015, the Human Rights Council adopted its resolution 28/30, in which it requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights urgently to dispatch a mission to investigate violations and abuses of international human rights law committed in Libya since the beginning of 2014, and to establish the facts and circumstances of such abuses and violations with a view to avoiding impunity and ensuring full accountability, and to submit to the Council a written report on its findings, which should also contain an update on technical assistance, capacity-building and cooperation with the Government of Libya, with recommendations for future capacity-building needs that include but are not limited to the justice system and accountability. 2. In accordance with the mandate, the mission focused the investigation on violations and abuses committed from 1 January 2014, and examined the actions of both State and non-State actors. During the investigation, the Office of the High Commissioner (OHCHR) received information concerning individuals with alleged responsibility for violations and abuses. That information has been retained on a strictly confidential basis. B. Methodology 3. The Government of Libya1 expressed its support for the investigation and offered assistance should the OHCHR investigation team2 conduct missions to Tobruk and AlBaida, for which the High Commissioner is grateful. Owing to the security situation, only a one-day visit to Tripoli, limited to the airport, was possible. A list of questions was dispatched to the Government, although no response had been received as at January 2016. 4. The High Commissioner expresses his appreciation to the Government of Tunisia for hosting the team in Tunis, made necessary by the continuing difficult security environment in Libya. Fact-finding activities were largely undertaken through missions and remote contact with individuals in Libya. The team undertook missions in Tunisia and to Libya, Egypt, Turkey, Jordan and Italy, and facilitated the travel of some victims and witnesses to Tunis. The team met with more than 250 interlocutors, including more than 200 victims and witnesses. A public call for submissions was issued in July 2015 and disseminated to States Members of the United Nations in August and September 2015. OHCHR received 66 submissions containing more than 900 individual complaint files. The team coordinated closely with the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) and sought inputs from the national human rights institution of Libya, the National Council for Civil Liberties and Human Rights and special procedure mandate holders (from whom a coordinated response was received). The team also sought information from other United Nations entities. The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women), the United Nations Development Programme and the Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNOSAT) also provided valuable assistance. 1 2 At the time of the investigation, conducted from July to December 2015, there were two separate authorities in Libya. In the present report, the “Government of Libya” refers to the internationally recognized authorities at the time, which were based in Tobruk/Al-Baida. The team consisted of six human rights officers (a coordinator, three human rights investigators, a legal adviser and a gender adviser) and translation, security and administrative staff. 3