SUMMARY
January 2026 witnessed the continued perpetration of serious human rights violations and international crimes against civilians across various parts of Libya, amid the persistent failure of authorities in both eastern and western Libya to fulfil their legal obligations to protect human rights, ensure effective investigations into violations, and hold perpetrators accountable.
During this month, Libya Crimes Watch (LCW) documented multiple patterns of violations, including unlawful killings and abductions. The LCW field team verified the discovery of three (3) bodies of minors who were killed in the city of Sabratha. Additionally, the team documented the abduction of one (1) Sudanese asylum seeker from Tripoli, as well as the discovery of one (1) unidentified body believed to belong to a migrant on a desert road in the Al-Jufra region.
In the context of violations committed along migration routes, the LCW field team monitored the completion of the recovery of twenty-one (21) bodies of migrants from a mass grave on the outskirts of Ajdabiya. This incident is part of a broader pattern of authorities failing to take the necessary measures to protect migrants’ lives along migration routes.
Libya Crimes Watch (LCW) holds the security and military authorities in both eastern and western Libya legally responsible for the violations documented during the month, whether through direct involvement in their commission, complicity and facilitation, or failure to prevent the violations and protect their victims.
LCW calls on the Libyan Attorney General to initiate urgent investigations into all violations documented during this month and to ensure accountability for those responsible. LCW further urges the authorities in eastern and western Libya to adopt effective measures to protect the lives of migrants along migration routes, to investigate violations committed against them, and to ensure that those responsible are brought to justice.
LCW emphasises that the cases referenced in this report do not necessarily reflect the full scale of violations committed during the month. Rather, they represent only those cases that the LCW field team was able to verify in accordance with LCW’s documentation methodology, with full adherence to principles of confidentiality, privacy, informed consent, and risk assessment related to the publication of information.
DETAILS
January 6
On 6 January, Libya Crimes Watch (LCW) monitored the discovery of one (1) unidentified body on a desert road in the Masah Al-Nahr area of Al-Shuwairif, within the Al-Jufra region. The body is believed to belong to a migrant who died as a result of thirst, hunger, and exposure to cold temperatures. The body was recovered and transferred to a hospital to complete the necessary legal procedures.
January 22
LCW documented the discovery of three (3) bodies of minors near Al-Jurf beach in the city of Sabratha. On 22 January, the bodies were recovered by the Libyan Red Crescent – Sabratha branch and transferred to the hospital to complete the required legal procedures. At the time of writing this report, the identities of the perpetrators remain unknown, and no publicly announced legal measures have been recorded to pursue accountability.
January 27
LCW documented the abduction of Musab Suleiman Abdul Mawla (25 years old), a Sudanese asylum seeker, from his home in the outskirts of the Janzour area, west of Tripoli. On 27 January, He was abducted by unidentified armed individuals and taken to an unknown location. His fate remains unknown at the time of writing this report.
Follow-ups
January 13
On 13 January 2026, LCW followed the completion of the recovery operations of twenty-one (21) bodies of migrants from a mass grave located inside a human trafficking warehouse in a remote area on the outskirts of the city of Ajdabiya. The mass grave had been discovered on 26 December of the previous year. LCW’s Local networks reported that the preliminary examination of some of the bodies revealed indications of gunshot wounds. The bodies were transferred to a hospital to complete the necessary legal procedures before being reburied in another cemetery within the city.
In the same context, LCW monitored the transfer of one hundred and ninety-five (195) migrants, including women and children, who had been detained under inhuman conditions at the same site, to detention centres in eastern Libya operated by the Department for Combating Illegal Migration (DCIM), affiliated with the Libyan government accredited by the House of Representatives (HoR).
RECOMMENDATIONS
- Libya Crimes Watch (LCW) calls on the Libyan Attorney General to open independent and transparent investigations into all serious human rights violations, including extrajudicial and unlawful killings, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, abduction, and conditions in both official and unofficial places of detention, and to ensure that those responsible are held accountable in accordance with international fair trial standards.
- LCW reiterates its call on the Libyan authorities to assume their responsibilities in protecting the lives of migrants along desert and maritime migration routes, and to cooperate with relevant international organisations to establish effective search and rescue mechanisms, cooperate with international rescue organisations, determine the fate of missing persons, and ensure the identification of individuals and human remains. LCW further calls for independent and transparent investigations into shipwrecks and violations related to human trafficking, and for accountability for those involved, in line with international accountability standards.
- LCW calls on the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to continue and expand its ongoing investigations into the situation in Libya, and to issue additional arrest warrants, particularly against senior-level officials. LCW further urges the Office to intensify pressure on the Libyan authorities to fulfil their legal obligations to cooperate with the Court, implement arrest warrants, and surrender suspects, in light of the persistent lack of will, capacity, and effectiveness of national judicial mechanisms, and their inability to conduct investigations and prosecutions in accordance with the complementarity principle under the Rome Statute.
- LCW reiterates its call on the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) and its member states to appoint a Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Libya, to fill the gap left after the conclusion of the mandate of the independent fact-finding mission (FFM), and to ensure continued monitoring and investigation of serious violations and identification of those responsible, thereby supporting accountability pathways and limiting impunity
- LCW calls on the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) and influential States to intensify pressure on all parties to respect human rights, to undertake genuine efforts towards transitional justice, truth-seeking, and reparations for victims, and to end the entrenched culture of impunity that continues to fuel ongoing violations.
