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By Alessandra Bocchi.
Tunis, 5 March 2017:
International human rights organisation Amnesty International has warned the authorities in the east of Libya not use the their new travel ban on 18 to 45-year-olds to discriminate against women.
Ten days ago, Major General Abdul Razzaq Al-Nazhuri, the LNA’s chief of staff and military governor between Ben Jawad and Derna, said that men as well as women between the ages of 18 and 45 would in future require permission from security officials to travel abroad.
This replaced the earlier ban preventing women under the age of 60 from travelling unless accompanied by a male guardian. It had been suspended after being massively criticised.
Because the terms of the new ban are as yet unspecified, Amnesty fears that it is will be used by the eastern authorities to discriminate against women in line wit the initial ban.
“The decree provides no further clarity as to the criteria on how the security approval would be obtained or the basis for denial of travel,” Amnesty’s statement read. It also called “on authorities to ensure that the procedures used to implement the new decree are non-discriminatory in interpretation and implementation, and do not lead to arbitrary denial of travel for women.”
Amnesty pointed out that a similar attempt to stop unaccompanied women from travelling was made by Qaddafi in 2007. After the revolution, in 2013, a fatwa issued by Grand Mufti Sadeq Al-Ghriani also tried to stop unaccompanied women from travelling. Amnesty said that the fatwa “did raise concern”, but ultimately it “carried little weight under the legislative and other applicable bodies”.
As a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights as well as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, Libya is required nationally and internationally to ensure equal rights to all citizens. Equally, under the Constitutional Declaration of 2011, which acts as the country’s interim constitution, the freedom of movement is guaranteed.
