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Appendix: Official Libyan Government Response to the Report’s Findings

(Official Government Translation)

Comments of GPC For Foreign Liaison and International Cooperation on the Second Part of the Human Rights Watch Organization Report relating to (Benghazi Juvenile home) and (the Social Home) in Tajura Based on Its team visit to the Libyan Jamahiriya from 20/04 – 11/05/2005

Comments:

The report mentions that "the interviews, carried out with the officials in these two homes- subject of the report and so-called the detainees and the members of the district attorney’s office showed that the Libyan government which manages the two homes is detaining the women and girls without any clear accusation (charge). The law that governs these two homes states that they are constructed to provide a shelter for “women exposed to participating in immoral actions”.

These homes are suppose to protect those women and girls from the violence that their relatives will exercise on them in the name of family honor, and to rehabilitate those women that have passed certain acceptable behavioral norms. In other words, these accusations are not acceptable reasons, from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights) point of view to keep them under custody to the point that the Libyan government arrests women and girls without being defendant or convicted of any crime or those who have completed their sentences. The Libyan government violates the right for freedom for those persons".

The General Peoples Committee of Foreign liaison and International Cooperation asserts that what the report has indicated concerning the violations in the social care homes or juvenile care homes, have no relation, whatsoever, to the society moral values. And confirms that the report is ignoring  the Islamic values that govern the Libyan society and also the traditions and habits which have the major role in the formation of the human relations in the society and form their visions to reality, for example in some regions, there is the habit of revenge for their honor to the cases of indecency, to renounce and to ostracize the women accused of indecency cases from their families- these are among the habits that exist in the nearby countries, and the concerned authorities are working to remove or eliminate these habits by changing the understanding related to them, through the enlightenment, counseling and education. Also the traditions and habits of the society do not accept to leave women and girls in the streets facing the unknown destiny, and that necessitates the need to find solution and means to counter act these things. It is necessary to clarify that the child care, boys care, girls care, disabled and elderly care, women care homes (social homes) and juvenile reforming institutions are social institutions and not criminal or disciplinary ones, except the juvenile reform institution and all of them are affiliated to the social security fund, which takes care of the disabled and the juvenile that have no one to take care for them and all of those who have no means for a respectful living. These institutions provide free complete health care and social welfare in the framework of welfare to the individuals   in the society according to the lenient Islamic Law (sharia) and the principles of the Third Universal Theory. In order to demonstrate the role of such institutions, and the legislation regulating them, the social homes are established to provide shelter for the women who have their living means ceased, those who have no shelter, or women accused in legal cases where the legal procedures necessitate that they remain under control in these homes, to sympathize with their social circumstances as well as the circumstances of the criminal case associated with them; which is not appropriate to have them detained in women reform and rehabilitation institutions ,to  avoid the damage of their social status from the view point of prevailing traditions and habits in the society.

The first category inters the social home voluntarily and with their own consent for different reasons. Some of them approach these homes because they have no place to live in, due to disputes with their families especially those who are accused of immoral cases; others who have no means for a respectful life and family care either by lose of their guardians or families, and these categories have the right to leave the institute whenever it is suitable for them.

These social arrangements are initiated by the popular community for the respect and preserving the dignity of women and parrying of all dangers of taking advantage of them by others. It is necessary to mention that the legislation regulating these institutions makes it necessary to arrange for these women, during their stay in these homes, to receive qualifying courses if they are not qualified, by sending them to work as well as arranging some cultural programs. They are, also, provided with the opportunity to continue their education, if interested. The institutions arrange for securing jobs for them and help them make families by facilitating their marriage to whoever they desire or try to arrange for conciliation with their families.

The second category includes those who are kept in a separate section within these institutions based on legal procedures. The criminal procedural law regulates the period of their detention and the time for the review of their cases, which are governed by the provisional detention regulations stipulated in the law.

Regarding the female juvenile care institutions there are two categories of detainees in them:

1st category includes the girls that the public attorney’s office orders their provisional detention for investigation reason based on the charges addressed to them or to serve a sentence passed by a juvenile court in accordance with the criminal law and penal procedures law.

2nd category includes the girls that have been sentenced by juvenile court to be detained there, as it is approved that they are homeless in accordance with the law for juvenile vagrancy legislation.

The second category includes those female juveniles who have completed their sentences or those whose legal action against the is completed, they are transferred to an independent section within these girls care homes if their families refuse to allow them to live with them.

The question that has to be asked (what is the solution for these cases? Do we leave them in the streets to face their destiny without shelter and without a family or guardian or they left liable for revenge? Or they are sheltered in social institutions till they reach womanhood (legal majority age) then they have the choice to stay or leave the institution?

The need to safeguard them from abuse, crimes or revenge requires keeping them in these institutions, providing them with education and training, cultural and rehabilitation programs to give them a chance to rejoin the society peacefully or to attempt to reunion them with their families.

The HRWO report, also, indicates that "HRW is concerned with  several of the detainee, who have been denied their rights for fair Trial ,as well as denying them their right to object to the legality of their detention and they have not been given the right for legal representation (lawyers )".

The General Peoples Committee of Foreign liaison and International Cooperation asserts that each individual male or female has the right to have a fair trail. The legislation lays down the guarantees and the requirements for a fair trail, the most important of which come the multi-degrees of rulings, the publicity of the proceedings and access to a lawyer as per the concerned person's choice. Such right guarantees, for every person, to disapprove the evidence presented against him by the attorney general’s office including the confessions ascribed to him and any breach to this right makes the convection faulty in terms of the breach to have the right for defense which leads to breaching the law that necessitates its nullification by a higher degree court and the Supreme Court have the firm ruling since a very long period of time.

The committee draws the attention to what the report points out in this connection considering that as a loose statement, and can not form the basis for the existence of violations to such rights and guarantees, in addition to its contradiction to  what the organization have undertaken in terms of  maintaining objectivity, accuracy and the documentation of the incidents supported with proof and evidence that it will present in its report, so that the concerned authorities could verify the alleged accusations and take the necessary actions accordingly.

Then the report states that " its investigators have said that those women and girls are detained for unspecified periods in these institutions till one of their male relatives agrees to be their guardian or they agree to get marred. These prerequisites for leaving the institutions are- in themselves- provocative and dictatorship. HRW believes that detaining of the prisoners for unspecified periods of time is dictatorship even when their detention is in accordance with practiced legal standards, this would be even worse when the detainee completes her sentence and kept detained after that."

The General Peoples Committee of Foreign liaison and International Cooperation draws the attention to the fact that, as previously, mentioned the residents of the social homes are there by their own will because they have no shelter or guardian or income and they have the right to leave the institutions whenever they feel it suits them. Regarding those detained due to accusations by judicial bodies, their stay in these institutions is connected with the legal procedures set up by the judicial bodies according to the law of criminal procedure. It is worth mentioning that some women had left these homes and returned to them voluntarily because of the reasons mentioned above, however, the organization have specified any names so the concerned authority could review their conditions and be able to verify the alleged accusation.

The report states that" the researches thy carried out revealed that the transfer of detainees to the rehabilitation centers is just the beginning of further violations that they have to bear.  The staff in these institutions limit the detainees freedom of movement and they are subjected to penal procedures including solitary confinement for long periods of time for minor infractions. The children detainees in Benghazi juvenile reform centers for girls complained that the handcuffs stay in their hands during solitary confinement. This does not conform to the international norms for the treatment of the detained juveniles. Which call for carrying disciplinary practices in such a way that safe guard and maintain the juvenile ego and consider detention as means for rehabilitation".

The General Peoples Committee of Foreign liaison and International Cooperation asserts that the treatment of the residents of social homes or reform institutions are governed by the social security law no. (13) year (1980) and the legislation and decisions enacted by virtue of the law, and the law no. (109) year 1972 concerning the juvenile education and guidance institutions. These legislation secured the rights of the residents  of these institutions in respect of food, clothing, education, training, rehabilitate and the disciplinary procedures including the duration of the disciplinary detention the requirements for these disciplinary procedures, and the authority that withholds the power to inflict the disciplinary action.

And asserts that the claimed mistreatment, indicated in the report, is unacceptable according to the popular society norms and are liable for legal penal. It is regrettable that the report narrated this without the precise facts that the organization used to follow, so as to enable the concerned authority to verify their accuracy. It is not unlikely that these allegations from perverted juveniles are the out come of a psychological case due to their presence in these institutions in a condition that does not satisfy the desires of those in their age outside these institution.

The report adds that " the women and girls are medically examined for diseases without their approval also they are forced to take the virginity test by male legal doctors. These medical examinations constitute a conduct that carries the contempt and this violates the women’s right for her body and individual safety".

The General Peoples Committee of Foreign liaison and International Cooperation asserts that the medical examinations are carried out to determine the existence of contiguous diseases or not and this is required for preserving public health in such places. This is done in compliance with the law. In respect to the virginity test there is no test called virginity test, what happens is the accused of sexual intercourse or adultery are referred to medical examiner according to a judiciary order and in some cases, their layers request that to confirm their innocence or to disapprove the accusations of sexual intercourse or adultery, in an attempt to provide evidence for their innocence of the accusations, in accordance with the law.

The report, also, states that "one woman in Tajura home told us that her daughter living in the child care home, in the same complex, has been adopted by another family without her approval. The woman does not know the fate of her daughter. This is considered a violation to the Libyan criminal law and the child rights treaty. Any woman or girl that her child have been taken from her, by the staff of the facility, has the right for a judicial review session because of the separation and they should get a direct and consistent meeting with her child according to the human rights norms " .

The General Peoples Committee of Foreign liaison and International Cooperation asserts that  the Libyan law has nothing called adoption because its regulations are derived from the Islamic law (sharia) which have abolished the adoption, however,  the Libyan law provides for  sponsorship system which is derived from the Islamic sharia; law no. (10) year (1984) and the social security law and the legislation and decisions enacted by virtue of the law regulates the sponsorship procedures. From an Islamic point of view it is considered as worship for God’s rapprochement and the sponsorship imposes several duties on the sponsor and guarantees certain rights for the sponsored, and the sponsorship does not take place till certain conditions, stipulated in the law, are met. Regarding the child that his mother gave him up voluntarily, the report should have specified the alleged case so the proper authority can investigate the case.

The report has alleged that" the detained juveniles in Benghazi reform institute have been denied the right to be educated. The facility provides only religious instructions and tailoring instruction violating the right to get education according to the Grand Green Charter on the Human Rights and several international treaties, in which  Libya is a member and the United Nations regulations that protect the juvenile . Such treaties state that the youth should not lose their right for education during their detention"

The General Peoples Committee of Foreign liaison and International Cooperation asserts that the legislation that governs the social care homes which was mentioned previously guarantees for every juvenile or adult to have the right to continue his or her education at any level and the staff managing these facilities are obligated to provide chances for education, training and rehabilitation, this case will be investigated by the proper authorities.

The organization’s report stated that the nature of violations in the social rehabilitation centers and the internal violations in the reform institutions require immediate action from the Libyan Government. The social rehabilitation centers should not be the only umbrella available for the women and girl, who, need protection in Libya. The report concluded that other umbrellas should be voluntarily constructed and does not have the disciplinary character for those who are in need for shelter or protection from violence. All women and girls that are detained without being convicted in a crime according to justice trial norms and those who are not serving any sentence should be released immediately.

The General Peoples Committee of Foreign liaison and International Cooperation reasserts that  the women protection homes (the social home) and the juvenile rehabilitation and guidance homes work  for the protection of the women from alienation and taking unwarranted advantage of them and to  provide them with the social protection that they have lost. These homes try to secure peace with their families and providing the right conditions for their coherence in the society with dignity. Also these homes work for the cultivation of perverted juveniles righteous cultivation as well as trying very hard to provide them with decent life conditions and means to cohere with the society when they reach their adulthood and re-join the life battle.

Also we reconfirm that what is stated in the report does not conform to the society’s norms and ignores the religious, sociological, cultural and legal considerations for the Libyan society, however, the appropriate authorities will take these remarks into consideration, and will investigate the conditions in those institutions according to the national and international legislation and find out if they need for the restructuring and development in consistency with those norms.




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