The UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) [official website] released a 37-page report on Monday calling on those with ground-level control to declare that recent acts by the Islamic State (IS) and other militants will not be tolerated and “to immediately take action to stop acts in breach of international human rights and humanitarian law” [press release]. The report highlights [text, PDF] that against the background of sectarian infighting and the breakdown of the justice system, IS has gained control over large areas of Libya and committed such atrocities as public beheadings for political or religious affiliation, amputations and floggings. Several Libyan armed groups have pledged allegiance to IS and are actively fighting against both international forces and other sects who have not declared such allegiance. The report outlines other abuses such as arbitrary civilian abduction, property destruction and looting, inhumane incarceration and torture performed by IS and other armed groups, and classifies these events as potential war crimes.

Libya has remained politically unstable since the 2011 deposition of Muammar Gaddafi [JURIST backgrounder] and subsequent civil war. Much of the escalating violence in Libya is attributable to the Islamic State [BBC Backgrounder], functioning as ISIL, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The group has caused increasing international alarm over its human rights abuses [JURIST report] since its insurgence into Syria and Iraq in 2013. In April UNSMIL condemned the continued bombing of an airport [JURIST report] as needlessly endangering citizens and counter productive to a peaceful end to the crisis following a report in March outlining a peace proposal [JURIST report] intending to end the country’s political instability and “deteriorating military situation.” Also in March the head of the UNSMIL warned the UN Security Council that without intervention from the international community and UN, Libya is likely to become unstable [JURIST report] in the wake of repeated terrorist attacks. The UN further reported in March that armed groups are increasingly attacking and threatening human rights defenders [JURIST report], who wish to shed light on widespread human rights abuses in Libya. In February the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights condemned [JURIST report] Libyan extremists’ beheading of 21 Coptic Christians as “vile crime[s] targeting people on the basis of their religion.” Also in February Human Rights Watch released a report [text, PDF] detailing the violent attacks on Libyan journalists [JURIST report] by various armed groups over the past two years.