UNDP, UNSMIL and Ministry of Interior join efforts to respond to Gender-Based Violence in Libya

February 2, 2021

Lieutenant colonel Ms. Sumaya Abdullah Jibril, Adjutant Ms. Saida Ahmed Al-Mishri from Tripoli Security Directorate participating in Gender-Based Violence workshop. Photo: UNDP/ Malek Almoghrabi

Investigating Police Officers from the Tripoli Security Directorate and representatives of the Women's Police Department  and the Family and Child Protection Unit within the Tripoli Security Directorate are gaining skills to integrate a gender perspective into their work, with a view to preventing and addressing gender-based violence (GBV) during a two day  training workshop that is taking place in Tripoli as part of the Policing and Security Joint Programme (PSJP) initiative in Libya, implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in partnership with the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), and in coordination with the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Interior.

The trainees will be able to apply this perspective when reporting and working to prevent and respond to GBV and assisting in ongoing investigations by providing the necessary knowledge, tools and skills. 

PSJP started in 2017 in Tripoli with activities designed to develop a more community-oriented policing and people-centered rule of law services, as well as to reinforce mechanism for oversight and accountability in Libya

During the opening ceremony, the Deputy Director of Tripoli Security Directorate, Mr Abdel Hakim Samoud stated: 

'' Monitoring forms of violence within families is among responsibilities entrusted to the Ministry of Interior to maintain peace and security in the society. Through the Women’s Police Department and the Family and Child Protection Unit, the ministry is dealing with domestic violence cases with the help of specialists. Furthermore, It is supporting initiatives that aim at raising awareness about gender-based violence and improving skills of its staff to enforce the law and respond to it. ''

UNDP Resident Representative in Libya, Mr. Gerardo Noto, declared: '' Strengthening the rule of law and promoting human rights are cornerstones of UNDP’s work to achieve structural transformation for sustainable human development. Gender Based-Violence should end and we are working with our partners to achieving that goal in Libya ''. 

Italy, the United States of America, the Netherlands and Germany are supporting security, policing and rule of law in Libya through PSJP initiative.

Raising the capacities of the judiciary, the police, the prosecutors and prisons management in Libya, partners are contributing to the speedy dispensation of justice based on internationally accepted legal norms/procedures in Libya.