“This includes verbal, physical, or sexual violence, so-called ‘honour crimes,’ and as many women activists have told us, online violence against women.” UNSMIL said in a statement on Friday. UN envoy Abdoulaye Bathily said he joins the United Nations Secretary-General’s campaign to end violence against women by 2030 and call upon all relevant Libyan stakeholders to take serious and active steps to combat violence against women and girls in Libya. “Violence against women and girls comes in many shapes and forms, most recently it has evolved to include online harassment, threats and exploitation. Anecdotal information and data shows that women are victims of online violence including receiving inappropriate messages, hate speech and blackmailing. UNSMIL encouraged all authorities to promote an environment that respects freedom of expression and combats hate speech and violence against women and girls.

TRIPOLI, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Libyan capital of Tripoli on Saturday held the fifth annual marathon under the slogan "competing for peace" with more than 1,500 participants. Participants from Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Nigeria, Türkiye, Philippine and Japan took part in the marathon, along with 70 observers and judges, said Abdul-Hamed Shbet, head of the Organizing Committee. The first-place winner took home a prize of 5,500 Libyan dinars (1,119 U.S. dollars) and a return flight ticket to Türkiye, Shbet said. Flight tickets, smartphones, sportswear, and cash prizes were also granted to participants, he added. The marathon was 21 km, approximately half the distance of a standard race, and took about three hours to finish.

The High Council of State (HCS) explained that it recognized the coordination mechanism that the Supreme Judicial Council selected in its meeting on April 12, 2021, which recognized the need for the House of Representatives and the HCS to agree on the occupants of the positions of the Attorney General and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, to respect the full independence of the judiciary. The HCS added that the mechanism also respected the selection rules for these two positions in accordance with the legislation in force that the Supreme Judicial Council used to apply to candidacy applications, provided that the role of the House of Representatives and the HCS accept or reject this candidacy in accordance with the mechanisms adopted in the Libyan Political Agreement. The HCS referred to the results of its meeting, which concluded that Al-Siddiq Al-Sour was elected by 12 votes out of 14, within the House of Representatives in an official session, where they approved his selection as Attorney General, while the HCS also approved his selection in the presence of 84 members: 55 approved, 4 rejected, and 25 abstained from voting. Members of the High Council of State (HCS) Abdul Rahman Al-Sweihli, Mustafa Al-Tariki, Naima Al-Hami and Youssef Al-Ahyool appealed at the Supreme Court what they said the unconstitutionality of the House of Representatives' (HoR) Resolution No.2 of 2021, regarding appointing Al-Siddiq Al-Sour as the Libyan Attorney General.

The National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) has continued to implement the first phase of the campaign to combat mosquitoes that transmit malaria in the city of Sukna, in the municipality of Al-Jufra. NCDC stated on its Facebook that the campaign comes within its plan to combat the return of malaria in cooperation with NCDC’s Department of Common Diseases Control and the Department of Environmental Sanitation in the municipality of Al-Jufra. The campaign included spraying various areas and neighborhoods of the city of Sukna and the compounds that contain malaria transmitting mosquitoes, in coordination with the General Department for Environmental Sanitation at the Ministry of Local Government.

Member of the House of Representatives, Ismail Al-Sharif, revealed an expected expanded meeting in two days in Sirte city between members of the House of Representatives and the State Council to get out of the political impasse. “I rule out the presence of the UN envoy, Abdoulaye Batili, in the upcoming meeting between the members of the two councils in the city of Sirte,” Al-Sharif said in a press statement today. He indicated that the meeting will focus on the issues of executive authority, sovereign positions, and the constitutional path.

The Libyan Anti-illegal Migration Department deported Thursday more than 200 undocumented migrants to their countries of origin. The migrants, who are from Egypt, Niger and Sudan, were deported by land to their own countries, according to Nasser al-Khatroushi, head of the Deportation Office of the Anti-illegal Migration Department. The deportation was done for the first time in collaboration with the Anti-illegal Immigration Departments of Eastern and Southern Libya. Libya has become a preferred point of departure for undocumented immigrants who attempt to cross the Mediterranean Sea to reach European shores. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), 20,842 undocumented migrants, including women and children, have been rescued at sea and returned to Libya so far this year.

European interior ministers welcomed Friday an EU plan to better coordinate the handling of migrant arrivals, after a furious argument over a refugee rescue boat erupted between Italy and France, AFP reported. The ministers will gather again at a Dec. 8 meeting to pursue the “difficult discussion,” he said. The row undermined the EU’s interim solution and led to Paris calling Friday’s extraordinary meeting of interior ministers from the 27 member states. On Monday, the European Commission unveiled a new action plan to better regulate arrivals on the central Mediterranean Sea route. While France and Italy argue about high-profile cases of dramatic sea rescues in the central Mediterranean, other EU capitals are more concerned about land routes through the Balkans.

Regional conference on cross-border cooperation between Libya and the Sahel was concluded on Thursday in Tunis, according to EU Border Assistance Mission (EUBAM) in Libya. The event was co-hosted by the EU Special Representative for the Sahel (EUSR), Emanuela Del Re and the Head of Mission to the European Border Assistance Mission to Libya (EUBAM Libya), Natalina Cea, with the support of the EU Regional Advisory and Coordination Cell for the Sahel (RACC) and the European Counter Terrorism-Just (CT JUST) project, the Mission said in a statement. The Conference provided a valuable occasion to better understand the current situation and border management challenges affecting six countries (Burkina Faso, Chad, Libya, Mali, Mauritania and Niger) both at national and regional level, and to discuss strategies, actions and the use of technologies to support effective surveillance and controls at the border, EUBAM explained. “Panel discussions included: main border threats in Libya and in the Sahel and the impact on regional stability; national policies/strategies on border management and security; international cooperation and exchange of information and intelligence including the use if new technologies. “The EU is committed to support the enhancing the Cross-border cooperation between Libya and the Sahel,” EUBAM pointed out.

Libyan Parliament Member Talal al-Maihoub said all agreements signed by the government of Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, whose mandate has expired, are illegitimate, and any concessions that the government waived or agreements it signed that were not approved by Parliament are considered illegal and cannot be implemented. Al-Maihoub called in press statements on the countries that sign agreements with Dbeibeh’s government to respect Libya’s sovereignty, adding that such steps are illegal and rejected by Parliament, which withdrew confidence from the government.

QNATripoli: Speaker of the House of Representatives of the State of Libya H E Aguila Saleh met on Thursday with Ambassador of the State of Qatar to Libya H E Khalid Mohammed bin Zabin Al Dosari. The meeting dealt with the two countries’ cooperation relations. During the meeting, H E the Ambassador reiterated the State of Qatar’s commitment to support the political process and the UN Security Council’s related resolutions as well as all peaceful solutions that maintain the unity of Libyan and pushing towards holding constitution based free and fair elections that meet the people aspirations.

A has sentenced a53-year-old man, Hycinth Uchechukwu Enekwechi, has been sentenced to two years imprisonment for attempting to procure the illegal entry of three girls from Oyo and Osun to Libya through Niger Republic. The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) disclosed this in a statement on Thursday, November 24, 2022. The agency said Enekwechi was convicted on Wednesday, November 23, 2022, by the Kano State high courtThe statement read, “The convict – a 53years old Male of No. 59 Abeokuta Road, Sabon Gari Quarters, Kano State was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment with an additional fine of N250,000 for attempting to procure the illegal entry of 3 Females to go from Oyo and Osun State respectively to Libya through Niger Republic.”

The President of the General Federation of Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture, Mohammed Al-Raaed, has expressed the union's full readiness for all necessary procedures and arrangements to hold the German-Libyan Economic Forum as soon as possible. This came during his meeting with the German Ambassador, Michael Unmacht, to discuss economic cooperation between the two countries. Unmacht confirmed that the Libyan-German Forum is a first step for the participation of German companies in various fields, including the sectors of transport, energy, public services and renewable energies, with the support of the German embassy in Libya. Al-Rayed stressed the need to activate the Libyan-German Chamber, to follow up the economic files between the two countries, calling for coordinating successive and mutual visits by businessmen, in order to link economic relations and encourage investment.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Government of National Unity (GNU), Najlaa Al-Mangoush, has affirmed the government's firm stance, rejecting any provocations targeting Libya's sovereignty or attempting to undermine the bilateral relations between it and its neighbors in the Mediterranean. This came during her meeting with the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, on the sidelines of the fourth ministerial meeting of the European Union and the southern neighboring countries in Barcelona, Spain. For his part, Borrell reaffirmed the European Union's support for the path towards elections as the only solution for Libya's stability and unity.

(AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)By LORNE COOKEuropean Union interior ministers on Friday weighed proposals to ease tensions between France and Italy over migrants arriving on their shores without authorization, including a possible crackdown on charity-run ships doing search and rescue work in the Mediterranean Sea. A diplomatic row erupted earlier this month when Italy maneuvered France into accepting a humanitarian rescue ship, the Ocean Viking, with 234 migrants aboard. Darmanin and his counterparts are seeking a more permanent solution to a problem that has dogged the EU for many years. Part of that plan involves the idea of imposing tighter rules on ships doing search and rescue work. Neither the EU nor any of its member countries actively search for migrants at sea unless they receive an emergency call.

The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) joins the world in supporting the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence. Violence against women and girls in its various forms has been on the rise in Libya. This includes verbal, physical, or sexual violence, so-called ‘honour crimes,’ and as many women activists have told us, online violence against women. Anecdotal information and data shows that women are victims of online violence including receiving inappropriate messages, hate speech and blackmailing. The Mission encourages all authorities to promote an environment that respects freedom of expression and combats hate speech and violence against women and girls.