Long struggle for truth: Enforced disappearances in Libya

Amnesty International, 2010, 8 pages.

Thousands of Libyan families are waiting for answers from the Libyan authorities. They all have relatives who have been forcibly disappeared or who have been killed by agents of the state in past decades. Despite Libya’s recent transformation from pariah state to international player, they have had no satisfactory responses to their demands for truth and justice. Only a few years ago, Libya was a closed country under UN, European Union and US sanctions. Gross human rights violations took place in a climate of secrecy and isolation. Today it is a full member of the international community, elected to the UN Human Rights Council in May 2010. Sadly, the country’s international reintegration has not been accompanied by steps to address the legacy of gross human rights violations committed in past decades.