📋 Tender Overview
Firstly thank you once again for the opportunity for the second time to brief you in relation to the Situation in Libya. I had the opportunity earlier this morning to sit down with the distinguished Permanent Representative of Libya to discuss matters arising from the Situation. In my last briefing I set-out a hope and a plan that I would review comprehensively the evidence and the Libya Situation to give some greater clarity to the members of the Council and try to work as effectively as possible to discharge the very serious and very necessary responsibilities that this Council placed on my Office in 2011 by way of Resolution 1970. This of course is the 23rd report that the Office has presented to the Council.I have to emphasize what is mentioned in the report and what I said on the first occasion these situations referred by the Council cannot become never-ending stories. They need to move forward and we need to ensure justice. It may be the case that the old adage justice delayed is justice denied is not correct. Maybe justice delayed still can be arrived at. But certainly victims and survivors have every right to see that their lives their hopes and their suffering is looked at thoroughly and if theres criminal responsibility to be brought before an independent court. And its my view and with greatest respect that the new report be put forward is a good attempt to try to identify benchmarks and articulate benchmarks for the first time in an Office of the Prosecutor report in terms of timelines for certain action so that we can also be held to account and I can also make sure that we do better in terms of moving things forward. The stock taking exercise has shown of course some significant progress has been made and theres a renewed investigative strategy that provides a framework. But the plan of renewed action of a more dynamic more impactful investigation is perhaps best articulated in some key principles. The first is prioritisation. Ive said to this Council before that I will prioritise referrals made by the Security Council to my Office. Thats not an abstract principle that requires greater resources greater skills and greater urgency because of the responsibility that this august Body has for maintaining international peace and security. And that promise of greater prioritisation has been given effect to already in these last few months by additional resources and also additional staff.At the same time Ive highlighted an increased need to focus on a number of areas and for the purposes of todays briefing Ill identify financial investigations and tracking in relation to Libya Situation and also focus on sexual and gender-based crimes and also crimes against and affecting children. The other aspect is an ever more acute realisation that harnessing technology is absolutely vital. The massive data sets that are the hallmark of the kind of crimes that are within the Courts jurisdiction require us to utilise in an integrated fashion the latest technology that is available. Artificial intelligence machine-learning tools translation platforms that allow mass data to be effectively translated before a more cost-intensive exercise of human review is carried out. All of that will allow us to accelerate our action.And I think its not an exaggeration to say that when we start seeing some of this and the timelines are listed in the report it will have the potential and I hope the effect it will have a very profound effect on investigations. In very simple terms the types of evidence video audio statements medical the whole variety of electronic data it needs to be rendered more malleable more accessible to investigators and analysts and then ultimately presented as necessary where relevant to a court of law.The second principle is empowering victims and witnesses. The Hague is distant from the majority of its situations its distant from Libya and its blindingly obvious in my respectful view that arms-length investigations are not the most effective. We need to work shoulder to shoulder and hand in hand with victims and survivors in affected communities. And also we need to embrace and work wherever possible with States. And I think once we work in that way both with victims and survivors and the states well have a better compass a more accurate compass that will help us navigate a path towards the truth separating truth from fiction. And actually finding out why did certain things happen and where necessary ensuring cases are brought that independent judges can establish and linked to that is something that is critical and I hope that we will have the support of Libya as well. Its something that I think is necessary for all of our situations is the field presence. We need to be more on the ground learning listening and being able to access the undercurrents of a situation so were not the least informed person or group in a situation. We need to be absolutely alive to the realities of the moment in which different narratives take place and we need to be able to separate those narratives effectively.Weve already identified some putative witnesses that we think would be accessible to the Office by way of using or having a closer field presence. Linked to that the Registrar of the Court we have an outstanding Registrar of the International Criminal Court and we will partner with him and work in collaboration with him and his Office to devise a more effective outreach strategy because its critical that victims and survivors know whats happening. Here we are some years from 2011 and I think collectively we can do a better job to communicate with those victims and survivors to manage expectations but also within the confines of confidential criminal investigations improve communications and also here from them regarding what their concerns are.
