Libya Crimes Watch (LCW) on 23 February presented a statement on the situation of labour rights and women’s rights in Libya during the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR)’s NGO Annual Meeting.
We urged the CESCR to take immediate action to improve workers’ conditions, ensure respect for women’s rights in the workplace, and enhance cooperation with civil society and international organisations. Through our documentation, we have found that unions and international organisations face difficulties in performing their tasks and providing necessary support to workers due to restrictions and pressures imposed by authorities and armed groups. This clearly hinders the right to unionise and violates Articles 7 and 8 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. At the end of 2023, we documented the arrest of the head of the teaching staff union and four teaching staff members at Tripoli University by the Tripoli Internal Security Service (ISS), due to their protest demanding improved salary conditions from the National Unity Government. Libya has not submitted its periodic reports to the committee since 2005, reflecting continued shortcomings in fulfilling its international obligations in the field of human rights and labour rights.
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