Democratisation and human rights
299. Elisabeth Hughes wrote to us explaining the
Libyan political system. Mr Qadhafi established the Jamahiriya,
or 'state of the masses', after a coup in 1969. This system is
based on the political and philosophical thinking of Mr Qadhafi's
Green Book, which highlights the need for the state to be representative
of the whole of society and to reflect the thinking of the masses.
However, the state is effectively run by Mr Qadhafi, whose only
formal role is as the 'Leader' or 'Guide' of the revolution.[377]
300. The country is divided into regions (shabiyya).
Each region has a Basic People's Committee, through which Libyans
in theory influence political decision making (hence the 'state
of the masses'). Representatives from these committees make up
a General People's Congress (the Libyan equivalent of parliament),
which is called to make decisions at the national level. The General
People's Committee (cabinet) is elected by the Congress from nominees
chosen by Mr Qadhafi, and is responsible for managing the Congress
and the day-to-day running of the state.[378]
301. During our visit to Libya we heard great pride
in the stability of the Libyan political system. However, there
are serious concerns about the lack of political freedom. There
is no official opposition in Libya: the Libyan legal system prohibits
the formation of associations or political parties outside the
existing political system.
Critics of the current system, who wish to voice
their political dissent through peaceful means outside the official
structures, are heavily sanctioned and even face the death penalty.
They are forced to operate in secret… Despite the risks,
some Libyans, including lawyers, are calling for legal obstacles
to be lifted to enable them to form independent human rights organizations.[379]
The penalty for such activities is often arrest,
prolonged incommunicado detention sometimes involving torture,
followed by unfair trials and possibly the death penalty.
302. Asked about the United Kingdom's priorities
in Libya and the relationship between ridding the country of its
WMD programmes and the pursuit of democratisation, the Prime Minister
told the Liaison Committee on 8 February:
I think you are trying to do both the whole time.
Obviously it is important to get co-operation. Even if you have
a regime that is not democratic, to get co-operation over WMD
is important. That is why it was important to make sure that the
Libya programme was shut down… Now, none of that means, however,
I think, that ultimately the situation will be stable. I think
that one major lesson that we are learning is that wherever there
is repression, wherever there are failed states, those are places
where terrorism can breed.[380]
During our visit to Libya, we heard that political
reform is quite simply not on the official Libyan agenda.
303. More positively, there have been some improvements
in the human rights situation. In February 2004, Amnesty International
visited Libya for the first time in 15 years. Its subsequent report
noted that the authorities have taken some positive steps in recent
years, including the decisions in 2001 and 2002 to release hundreds
of political prisoners, among them prisoners of conscience detained
since 1973, and the passing of a resolution in January 2005 to
abolish the People's Court. However, it also outlined its "grave
concerns about the human rights situation."[381]
These concerns include the plight of political prisoners as well
as prisoners of conscience, arbitrary arrest and detention, a
seriously flawed judicial system and poor treatment of refugees
and migrants. During its visit to Libya, the Committee was deeply
troubled by what it heard about continued human rights abuses
in Libya.
304. The case of Bulgarian and Palestinian medical
workers accused of deliberately infecting children with the HIV
virus has received considerable attention. The European Commission
wrote to us about the case. In February 1999, five Bulgarian nurses,
a Bulgarian doctor and a Palestinian doctor, along with Libyan
medical staff, were accused of deliberately infecting around 426
children with HIV/AIDS in a Benghazi hospital. According to the
results of a medical investigation, paid for by Libya, the infection
was probably accidental and took place before the arrival of the
medical staff at the hospital. Nevertheless, in May 2004, the
five Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor were condemned
to death; the Bulgarian doctor was sentenced to four years imprisonment
(he was subsequently released but not permitted to leave Libya).
There is strong evidence of the ill-treatment of the medics in
detention. All the Libyan staff involved, including those accused
of ill-treatment of the detainees, were released. [382]
305. The EU as well as individual member states have
sought to win the release of the medical workers. There have also
been efforts to ease the situation of the children affected, for
example by providing hospital treatment. Nevertheless, the medics
remain in prison under sentence of death.
306. The Qadhafi International Foundation for Charity
Associations, which is headed by Mr Qadhafi's son Saif al-Islam,
has an ongoing campaign on human rights. The United Kingdom has
been working with the Foundation on prison reform. Two former
British prison governors visited Libya in October 2003 to advise
on prison conditions and the FCO's Global Opportunities Fund is
supporting a project to improve prison management. The Head of
the FCO's Human Rights Policy Department visited Libya in July
2004. During his visit the Libyan authorities agreed to further
joint work on prison management.[383]
307. The United Kingdom is also active in Libya on
the issue of child abduction. There are around 20 long-running
child abduction cases in Libya. The FCO has been working with
International Social Services to arrange visits to Libya by parents
whose children have been abducted there, including providing funding
for these visits. The Libyan system makes obtaining visas difficult,
and the traditional culture complicates visits for foreign mothers.[384]
International leverage
308. EU Association Agreements include commitments
on human rights and democratisation. However, Libya is the only
country around the Mediterranean that has no formal relations
with the EU. Moreover, while the EU would like to incorporate
Libya in its various Mediterranean programmes, Libya appears to
be more interested in relations with individual European states.[385]
As Oliver Miles told us:
Coming to the question of the European Union and
its various institutions, the Barcelona process and so on, my
feeling is that they are not really widely understood or appreciated
in Libya and that Qadhafi himself probably does not spend very
much time worrying about them and does not in a sense know what
the fuss is about. I think he probably looks at the relationship
which Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt have established with those European
institutions and wonders whether there is really very much in
it for him. There is a price to pay. If he chooses to join those
institutions, he has to accept the acquis which opens a lot of
difficult subjects, most obviously… the question of democratic
institutions and so on. Does he really want to sign up, as the
Tunisians, and the Algerians and the Egyptians have apparently
signed up, to a row of undertakings about democratic institutions
which he does not believe?[386]
309. By contrast, the promise of improved relations
with the US is of great interest to Libya. Elisabeth Hughes wrote
to us about the importance that Mr Qadhafi attaches to his international
standing:
Perhaps the most important factor influencing policy
at the current time is the attempt to normalise relations with
the international community. This attempt both improves his standing
in Libya, as his one of his favoured portrayals is as an international
statesman, and improves the country's standing and opportunities
for investment and trade.[387]
Oliver Miles reiterated this, emphasising the importance
to Libya of relations with the US:
A major if not the major objective behind the normalisation
that I have described has been to re-establish good relations
with Washington. Qadhafi, with good reason, has always taken his
relationship with Washington very seriously. More generally, Libya
is a pro-American country.[388]
310. The US has gone some way to improving relations
with Libya, ending the applicability of the Iran-Libya Sanctions
Act to Libya and lifting economic sanctions, which unblocked frozen
Libyan assets. Restrictions on cargo aviation and third-party
code-sharing have been lifted, as have restrictions on passenger
aviation. However, certain export controls remain in place and
Libya remains on the state sponsors of terrorism list. The US
opened an Interest Section in Tripoli in February 2004, upgrading
it to a Liaison Office in June.[389]
311. We conclude that there is no early prospect
of political reform in Libya. Given the importance placed on the
spread of democracy in eradicating the root causes of international
terrorism, we also conclude that the situation in Libya offers
cause for concern. We commend the work of the Government to encourage
improvements in the human rights situation, notably in the field
of prison reform, but we are concerned about how the United Kingdom's
improved relations with Libya—an authoritarian state with
a very questionable human rights record—may be viewed elsewhere
in the region. We recommend that the Government continue to make
clear to the Libyan authorities that human rights abuses are wholly
unacceptable and that it work both bilaterally and with its EU
and international allies, especially the US, to demand that the
Libyan authorities cease human rights abuses. We recommend that
the Government set out in its response to this Report what steps
it is taking in this area, including any plans to bring international
mediation to bear in the case of the Bulgarian and Palestinian
medical personnel.
239 
