[JURIST] Armed groups in Libya are deliberately attacking human rights defenders, according to a UN report [text, PDF] released Wednesday. Attacks have increased since fighting escalated in May 2014 and have been documented in a joint report [press release] by the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) [official websites]. Attacks include killings, abductions, torture, unlawful deprivation of liberty and threats via phone and social media. Prominent civil society activist Entissar al-Hassaeri was shot and killed in Tripoli last month [UN report], and two members of the National Commission for Human Rights-Libya, a human rights NGO, were abducted in central Tripoli. Both individuals have been released, but other activists remain missing. Many activists are receiving threats against themselves and their families even after leaving the country. The National Council for Civil Liberties and Human Rights in Libya closed its offices in Tripoli in late 2014 as a result of such threats. Armed groups across all ideological, political and tribal divides are responsible for the attacks after many human rights activists were drawing attention to the widespread human rights abuses across Libya. The joint report stresses a need for stronger state institutions, especially in law enforcement and criminal justice. It also calls upon neighboring countries to issue emergency visas to threatened or attacked human rights activists.

Libya remains politically unstable nearly four years after the 2011 uprising [JURIST backgrounder] and subsequent civil war that deposed Muammar Gaddafi. Much of the escalating violence in Libya is attributable to the Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and 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. Earlier this month March UNSMIL released a peace proposal [JURIST report] in an effort 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. In February the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights condemned [JURIST report] the group’s beheading of 21 Coptic Christians in Libya. Also in February HRW released a report [text, PDF] detailing the violent attacks on Libyan journalists [JURIST report] by various armed groups over the past two years.