NEW YORK: A Jordanian human rights expert working for the United Nations has called on Libyan authorities to take urgent action to protect women and girls in the country from what she called a “continuous cycle of rampant violence and mistreatment,” compounded by “complete impunity” for those responsible.

The UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, Reem Alsalem, said on Friday that she was “deeply disturbed at the widespread, systematic, and grave levels of violence faced by Libyan women and children, including girls.

“Femicide, or the killing of women on multiple grounds, is rife; as are acts of physical, economic, political and domestic violence in the private and public sphere,” Alsalem said in a statement.

Her comments followed an eight-day visit to the North African country during which, she said, she also received reports detailing “profoundly discriminatory and dehumanizing treatment endured by non-Libyan women and children, including girls, as well as horrific levels of torture, sexual violence, abduction for ransom, detention, trafficking in persons, forced labor and unlawful killings.”

While she described the invitation from the Government of National Unity to visit the country as encouraging, Alsalem lamented the many obstacles that she encountered on her trip, including delays in entering the country, her inability to visit prisons and detention centers where women and girls are being held, and being prevented from traveling to the east of the country to conduct visits she had planned prior to her arrival.

Special rapporteurs are independent experts who serve in individual capacities on a voluntary basis at the UN’s Human Rights Council. They are not staff members of the UN and are not paid for their work.

Alsalem put the lack of legal retribution for crimes committed against women and girls down to the “political deadlock, insecurity, instability, governance and rule-of-law challenges and problematic legal frameworks that are not in line with Libya’s international human rights obligations.”

The proliferation of armed groups and weaponry in Libya is feeding complex cross-border criminal enterprises, she added, and making an already “appalling situation” worse. She also expressed concern about the “increasing restrictions” imposed on civil society and international organizations trying to operate in Libya.

Alsalem called for the protection of women and girls to be a priority in “all dealings” with Libyan authorities. To better tackle the issue, she said the authorities must prioritize legislative reforms, including the adoption of a 2021 Draft Law on violence against women. She also recommended that they end impunity and boost support for governmental institutions and women’s organizations, and for the economic empowerment and political participation of women.

The UN expert also called for an end to “the pushback of migrants and refugees at sea to Libya, where their lives are at risk.”

She added: “Opportunities for access to fair asylum procedures, evacuation opportunities and voluntary returns to their countries must be scaled up.”