I would like to thank the Acting Special Representative Stephanie Williams for her briefing. Since this is your last briefing to the Council in this role, Ms. Williams, I would like to offer my sincere gratitude to you for the tremendous work in facilitating the contacts and mediating between the Libyan parties. We welcome the appointments of the new Special Envoy of the Secretary General, Mr. Ján Kubiš and the UNSMIL coordinator Mr. Raisedon Zenenga. We offer both of them our full support and look forward to working with them.
We are encouraged by the progress that the Libyan parties have made in the political dialogue process, including reaching the agreement on the selection mechanism for the new transitional government. We urge the parties to continue this steady pace in the run up to the elections in December this year. In this regard, I would like to stress the importance of the inclusion of women throughout the entire political process. We commend the Libyan women for being active in the political dialogue and urge all relevant actors to enable and ensure the full, meaningful and equal participation of women in the decision-making process.
The permanent ceasefire agreement signed on October 23 last year was a concrete step towards achieving lasting peace in Libya. We welcome the process that ensued, the meetings of the 5+5 Joint Military Commission and their contacts with the Security Working Group of the International Follow-up Committee for Libya.
At the same time, we need now more than ever to direct our focus to the implementation of the permanent ceasefire agreement. The 90-day deadline that was set in the agreement for ending all foreign interference in Libya passed just last weekend and significant progress still needs to be made in fulfilling this obligation. I underline once again how important the international support is in achieving lasting stability in Libya – I urge all those involved to put an immediate end to the blatant violations of the Libyan sanctions regime and to call off all foreign fighters and mercenaries from Libya. All actions that violate the Libyan arms embargo must immediately stop.
The Security Council has tools at its disposal to support the implementation of the arms embargo through the relevant authorisations. We welcome the efforts of the EU operation IRINI that acts strictly under these authorisations, is impartial in its activities and offers an important contribution to the implementation of the sanctions regime that this Council has put in place.
It is important for the Security Council to continue supporting Libyans in their efforts towards achieving lasting peace and contribute to this process when possible. In this regard, we support the establishment of a credible, realistic and effective ceasefire monitoring mechanism that acts under the UN auspices.
I would also like to stress the importance of confidence building measures, such as the recent prisoner exchanges that have taken place. It is important that concrete steps are taken to further build trust between the Libyan parties and in the Libyan society. That includes thoroughly investigating all alleged human rights violations, mass killings, torture, enforced disappearances and ensuring justice for the victims. A society without accountability will not be able to find lasting peace and reconciliation.
We note that there has been some progress in terms of the access of humanitarian aid and staff and we encourage this progress to continue. However, the humanitarian situation on the ground, further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, remains alarming. The frequent and often deliberate disruptions to the water and electricity supply, the extremely dire situation and the constant exposure to violence that migrants and asylum seekers endure are of great concern. We call on the authorities to pay close attention to these issues and to take concrete steps to alleviate the suffering of the civilians.
Finally, Mr. President, I would like to reiterate Estonia’s full support to UNSMIL as well as to the follow-up mechanism of the Berlin conference. It is important to note that the political process under the umbrella of the UN and the Berlin process remains the only acceptable international framework to support Libyans in achieving a lasting peace.
