Rights At Risk: Safeguarding Libyan women’s rights in times of crisis
Source: The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy
Libyan feminists were in uproar in June 2023 when the government decided to once again introduce a travel ban on women flying without a male chaperone, an action that severely curtails Libyan women’s freedom of movement. In a surprising act of coordination, the governments of both east and west Libya imposed travel restrictions on Libyan women, further inhibiting the possibility of circumventing such measures, the latest in a wider pattern of state-supported infringement of Libyan women’s rights. They draw attention to the importance of developing, and implementing, a National Action Plan identifying national and local needs to safeguard women’s freedoms across the country. The plan would also aim to reform the security sector to become human-centered, as opposed to state-centered, with a particular focus on women and girls.
A similar travel ban was first introduced in 2017, which Libyan human rights activists decried as a “gross violation of fundamental rights, in direct contravention of Libya’s interim constitutional declaration, and made without authorization, mandate, or jurisdiction.” In justification of their actions, the authorities claimed that Libyan women pose a threat to national security.
Six years later, Libyan women saw an alarming repeat of events. In early-May 2023, a travel questionnaire was given to women without a “male companion” at Mitiga International Airport in Tripoli. The questionnaire forced women to justify their reasons for traveling alone and specify their destination, in flagrant violation of the freedom of movement guaranteed by local and international legislation. Meanwhile, authorities in Benghazi went further: a citizen reported that a woman was prevented from traveling from Benina Airport despite obtaining travel permission to board the plane, under the pretext of the absence of a male companion. These actions further emphasize the importance of rapidly developing and implementing a National Action Plan to ensure women’s freedoms are protected, and advocate for policy change within the current security sector.
Read here the full article published by the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy on 15 May 2024.
Image by The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy
.
Libyan feminists were in uproar in June 2023 when the government decided to once again introduce a travel ban on women flying without a male chaperone, an action that severely curtails Libyan women’s freedom of movement. In a surprising act of coordination, the governments of both east and west Libya imposed travel restrictions on Libyan women, further inhibiting the possibility of circumventing such measures, the latest in a wider pattern of state-supported infringement of Libyan women’s rights. They draw attention to the importance of developing, and implementing, a National Action Plan identifying national and local needs to safeguard women’s freedoms across the country. The plan would also aim to reform the security sector to become human-centered, as opposed to state-centered, with a particular focus on women and girls.
A similar travel ban was first introduced in 2017, which Libyan human rights activists decried as a “gross violation of fundamental rights, in direct contravention of Libya’s interim constitutional declaration, and made without authorization, mandate, or jurisdiction.” In justification of their actions, the authorities claimed that Libyan women pose a threat to national security.
Six years later, Libyan women saw an alarming repeat of events. In early-May 2023, a travel questionnaire was given to women without a “male companion” at Mitiga International Airport in Tripoli. The questionnaire forced women to justify their reasons for traveling alone and specify their destination, in flagrant violation of the freedom of movement guaranteed by local and international legislation. Meanwhile, authorities in Benghazi went further: a citizen reported that a woman was prevented from traveling from Benina Airport despite obtaining travel permission to board the plane, under the pretext of the absence of a male companion. These actions further emphasize the importance of rapidly developing and implementing a National Action Plan to ensure women’s freedoms are protected, and advocate for policy change within the current security sector.
Read here the full article published by the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy on 15 May 2024.
Image by The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy
.