On Thursday UNSMIL chief Ghassan Salamé [bio] suggested [press release] to the United Nations Security Council [official website] that a joint tribunal should be considered to try individuals suspected of war crimes in Libya.

In the speech to the Security Council the chief expressed views that Libya is in a state of lawlessness with crimes being committed each day. Salamé stated [Libya Herald report], “If Libyans alone cannot combat impunity for war crimes, it is time for the international community to consider mechanisms that can help them do so; possibly including joint tribunals.”

Salamé laid out the framework for a plan to create a stable and more secure Libya. He called on the country to stop its practice of arbitrary detentions in a system with no due process or accountability. He called for protections for migrants as they “continue to be subjected to extreme violence, forced labour, extortion and killings and other grave abuses inside and outside official places of detention.”

There are plans to hold a national conference in February and Salamé stated that he “insist[s] the conference be inclusive for all the Libyans in order to allow the adoption of a true national charter and provide guidelines for the legislation needed to end the transition.”