Delivered by Permanent Representative, H.E. Mr. Sven Jürgenson
Thank you Mr. President,
I thank the Acting Special Representative Stephanie Williams for her briefing and the Secretary-General for the written report on the latest developments in Libya.
The coordinated calls for ceasefire by the GNA and the Eastern-based House of Representatives on 21st August were a welcome step in bringing Libya closer to peace, but now both parties need to follow this up with concrete action. It is extremely important that the talks in the framework of the 5+5 Joint Military Commission continue at a good pace and result in an effective ceasefire agreement.
Furthermore, we fully support the calls from the Libyan parties to cease all foreign intervention in Libya, including the departure of all foreign fighters and mercenaries that are present in Libya. Lasting peace in Libya can only come through a Libyan led and Libyan owned political process, and we need to create space for it. The only acceptable international framework to support this is the Berlin process conducted under the auspices of the UN.
All international efforts to stop the blatant violations of the Libyan sanctions regime must continue. The EU operation IRINI is and will continue to make an important contribution to these efforts.
The already dire humanitarian situation in Libya has taken a turn for the worse over the past months. We are extremely concerned about the growing suffering of the civilians amid the frequent and significant power and water cuts and call on all parties to stop the attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure.
I would like to express Estonia’s concern about the growing amount of reports on human rights violations in Libya. All people must be able to exercise their fundamental rights of peaceful assembly, protest and freedom of expression without having to fear excessive use of force by the authorities in retaliation. All incidents of international humanitarian law and human rights law violations must be thoroughly investigated and those responsible must be held accountable.
I would also like to reiterate Estonia’s full support to the work of UNSMIL and the UN-facilitated political process in Libya. We support the further extension of the UNSMIL mandate for another twelve months.
I thank you.
