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 an airport in the west of Libya. 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 an airport in east of Libya 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.
What is a National Action Plan?
A National Action Plan details how a government can best implement the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (UNSCR 1325) on Women, Peace and Security. In other words, it is a “critical and practical document that details the actions a government takes to translate its [Women, Peace and Security] commitments into concrete policies and programs to enhance women’s participation in peace, security and reconstruction efforts.” Resolution 1325 is a policy framework that was developed in 2000 and adopted by the UN Security Council to create a gender-sensitive and gender-responsive security sector on a global scale. The resolution provided a holistic approach to gender-mainstreaming, which challenges the traditional state-centric security sector.
The resolution provided a holistic approach to gender-mainstreaming, which challenges the traditional state-centric security sector
Additionally, a National Action Plan would place focus on women’s inclusion in policy-making and on the vulnerabilities and strengths of women in conflict-prevention by transforming gender relations to dismantle the patriarchy, particularly in security institutions. In 2021, UN Women issued a press release on the collaboration between Libya’s Ministry of Women’s Affairs and UN Women “to prepare a roadmap to a National Action Plan” by providing technical tools and expertise to the ministry.
Political barriers
Since 2015, Libya has been without a central government, with two vying cabinets governing the west and east of the country. This precarious setup has undermined the establishment of a unified and dedicated policy framework necessary for adopting and releasing a National Action Plan. The ongoing volatility between the the east and west governments means a National Action Plan is often perceived as more of a risk than as a safeguarding mechanism for women, especially amongst vulnerable communities.
The National Commission for Human Rights in Libya (NCHRL) issued a statement in response to the travel ban issued in May 2023 that strongly “condemned and denounced the restrictions and obstacles imposed on the rights of Libyan women.” Despite the controversy, authorities controlling Benina Airport in eastern Libya followed Tripoli’s lead in implementing the ban. Authorities at both airports emphasized their unity, a rare phenomenon often only witnessed when it involves violating and confiscating private and public freedoms in Libya.
Libyan women’s freedoms are constantly compromised by warring political factions, making it particularly difficult to adopt a unified National Action Plan. For example, women’s formal political participation remains limited, typically serving as a tokenistic gesture to comply with the 30 percent quota for women in all governance structures, minimal funding for electoral campaigns, and a handful of seats in diplomatic missions abroad.
Continuing efforts
In 2022, the UN appointed Abdoulaye Bathily as the Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG) in Libya to head the UN Support Mission In Libya (UNSMIL) and continue his predecessor’s work in brokering a peaceful arrangement that satisfies Libya’s many political factions. A quick scroll through Bathily’s X profile (formerly Twitter) demonstrates UNSMIL’s commitment to inclusive discussions, raising questions about who is excluded from these roundtable discussions and why.
In an effort to promote national unity, UNSMIL’s 2020 Libyan Political Dialogue Forum in Geneva established an agreement emphasizing the importance of women’s representation at peace talks and policy-making. The agreement aimed to pave the way for elections in December 2021; nonetheless, it seems that little has changed. Policy roundtables are predominantly composed of men, if not only men, raising the question about when, and who, will develop a National Action Plan for Libya.
The network attempted advocacy activities and campaigns to mainstream the resolution but ultimately lacked the mechanisms necessary to ensure the continuity of their efforts
Feminist groups across the world, particularly within the African continent, were hopeful after the adoption of Resolution 1325 to become part of a post-conflict security sector that allowed women agency and equity. Nonetheless, numerous challenges have hindered feminist groups globally, and Libya is no exception. Women still struggle to advocate for the Women, Peace and Security agenda, and barriers to adopting Resolution 1325 consequently persist.
Civil society organizations that attempt to work within this hostile policy environment face numerous challenges. For example, the 1325 Network in Libya was established in late 2012 and officially launched in 2014 to support Women, Peace, and Security. It gathers more than 21 organizations from across Libya, alongside 30 activists, and focuses on advocating and increasing awareness for Resolution 1325, monitoring the implementation of the resolution, enhancing the contribution of civil society, and advocating for a National Action Plan. The network attempted advocacy activities and campaigns to mainstream the resolution but ultimately lacked the mechanisms necessary to ensure the continuity of their efforts.
In the UN’s Strategic Framework for Libya for 2019-2022, the subsection “Governance and Rule of Law” focuses on paying “particular attention… to implementing Resolution 1325 and the six additional Security Council resolutions on Women, Peace, and Security” in addressing gender concerns, and incorporates the inclusion of the youth in decision-making processes. However, ambiguity remains regarding the status of Women, Peace, and Security and the National Action Plan in Libya with little information available on UNSMIL’s website, which dedicates a section to “women’s empowerment” and assures “30 percent representation of women in all governance structures,” but offers no further updates regarding the status of women.
The adoption of a National Action Plan is seemingly underway but no information exists regarding its objectives or progress since UNSMIL’s commitment. The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) recommended that “Libya take concrete, specific and effective legislative and other measures, including the establishment of a National Action Plan, to ensure a safe and favorable environment for women human rights defenders and address the current state of impunity, including with respect to non-state actors.” Despite the calls for a National Action Plan by CEDAW, there have been no tangible results.
Libya’s temporary government remains in power with little political legitimacy, and the road to national elections is fraught. The international community’s calls for fair elections in a country ring hollow in the context of two rival governments and a turbulent economy. Indeed, in April 2024, Bathily, the Special Representative and Head of UNSMIL, resigned after repeated attempts to break the deadlock through national consultations.
Ways forward
There are several ways to move forward in order to uphold women’s rights in Libya. First, Libyans can lobby to insert international human rights laws in municipal legislation as well as to work toward the “localization” of feminist policies. This means adopting the National Action Plan through a feminist approach in order to tackle power imbalances within political structures and shift power to national and local women rights actors. Municipalities in Libya are notably powerful implementers, and can provide support and access to women’s freedoms.
To ensure application, accountability mechanisms must be developed to uphold the National Action Plan and its standards regardless of the government in place. This can be achieved by creating an independent body that upholds the outcomes of the National Action Plan, and is prepared to hold governments and politicians accountable.
Libya could adopt a National Action Plan that is both feasible and realistic if the necessary efforts were made
The National Action Plan must be locally devised and catered to the Libyan environment, acknowledging different feminist movements and what they mean to different regions in the country. Often women empowerment programs implement identical programs throughout Libya, without taking into consideration the two different governments in place. Alternatively, feminist groups in Libya can impact more change than the country’s two governing bodies. Therefore programs adopted by the United Nations Development Program and UN Women should work with local organizations and groups directly rather than using umbrella implementation through the country’s governing bodies. A pertinent example is the Social Peace Partnerships adopted by the Peaceful Change Initiative across Libya to increase women’s visibility in local elections and politics.
Among the options available for advocacy, the UN-recommended Commission on the Status of Women employs a mandate that bridges between civil society and the government. The commission undergoes review by the UN Human Rights Committee that assesses its performance, in alliance with Libya’s municipal actors; this could act as a valuable accountability mechanism in the implementation of the National Action Plan.
The Women, Peace, and Security agenda outlined by Resolution 1325 still faces limitations and obstacles that require an enhanced bottom-up perspective to achieve a successful and dependable framework with a plan to safeguard women’s freedoms, rights, and agency. Libya could adopt a National Action Plan that is both feasible and realistic if the necessary efforts were made. Engaging on a local and national level will pose challenges but will ultimately prove effective. Municipal councils can work with women’s rights actors in order to uphold freedoms as they are more permanent than the current governing structures.
Women working in municipal councils in the south, for example, worked on social partnership projects in order to run as elected candidates in their municipalities. They claim that the future of Libya hinges upon women’s political participation as a “form of true active citizenship, and a key part of the political transition. In the future, [they] expect Libyan women to be present in all forms of public life.”
In March 2024, women in the small town of Jakharra in the east of Libya worked on a gender and security workshop “to bridge the gap between men and women’s understandings of security.” To successfully advocate for change on a municipal level, collaboration between men and women has also “proven effective at shifting attitudes and turning the role of men from gatekeepers to allies.” With the limitations of the UN’s Women, Peace, and Security agenda and the pending implementation of the National Action Plan, integrating gender into community-level peacebuilding in ways that are sensitive and responsive to the local context will make slow but impactful strides across Libya.
Nouran Ragrag is a Master’s graduate from the Centre of International Studies and Diplomacy at SOAS, the University of London. Nouran has authored and published multiple articles surrounding the Women, Peace and Security agenda in the Libyan context and she continues to research intersectional studies in the region.