A/HRC/25/42 2. The standing committees of the General National Congress 61. The General National Congress has a number of standing committees, including a Legislative and Constitutional Committee charged with elaborating legislative drafts and a Human Rights Committee. The Human Rights, Transitional Justice and Rule of Law Division has engaged with the committees on issues relating to legislation, transitional justice, capacity-building, raising human rights awareness and strengthening engagement with civil society. It has also provided advice on international human rights mechanisms and obligations and coordinated meetings between the Human Rights Committee of the Congress and relevant United Nations agencies such as UNICEF. The Division has also provided technical advice to support, and participated in, the first forum for human rights organizations in Libya organized by the Human Rights Committee of the Congress in April 2013; it is currently supporting the committee in planning a media campaign to raise awareness of human rights amongst the Libyan public. 3. Civil society 62. Civil society was repressed during the Qadhafi era and is now slowly beginning to be established. In this regard, the Human Rights, Transitional Justice and Rule of Law Division has engaged with civil society organizations and human rights defenders through providing training courses and advice on engaging with international human rights mechanisms and the role of the media in the protection of human rights. The Division has organized workshops in several locations throughout the country, such as Tripoli, al-Khoms and al-Zawiya, on themes including the obligations of Libya under international human rights law and has distributed human rights education literature to the civil society community across the country. It has also provided substantive advice and support to the organization of a major two-day human rights conference held in al-Baida in May 2013. A number of civil society representatives and high-level officials attended the conference to discuss the protection and promotion of human rights in Libya. E. Legal reform 63. The Libyan penal code and the code of criminal procedure, in addition to other legislation, include gaps and provisions that are not in line with international human rights standards. For example, Libyan legislation does not criminalize genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity. The death penalty is prescribed for a broad range of offences, including offences which do not meet the threshold of “most serious crimes” under international human rights law.14 64. The Human Rights, Transitional Justice and Rule of Law Division continues to provide advice to the General National Congress on laws adopted or under discussion since the conflict and is supporting the review of the Libyan penal code and code of criminal procedure with respect to their compliance with international human rights standards. This review was identified by the Government of Libya as a priority at the ministerial meeting in Paris in February 2013, however progress has been limited to date. The Division is coordinating closely with UNDP, UNODC, the Ministry of Justice, the High Judicial Institute, the Congress, academics and civil society to support the review, ensure national ownership of it and strengthen national capacity to conduct similar reviews in the future. 14 Article 6, paragraph 2, of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights prescribes that in States that have not abolished it, the death penalty may only be imposed for the “most serious crimes”. This term has been interpreted to mean that the death penalty should only be applied to the crimes of murder or intentional killing. See A/HRC/24/18, para. 24. 15