Refugees in Misrata prevented from going home

Authorities in and around Misrata are preventing thousands of people from returning to the villages of Tomina and Kararim and have failed to stop local militias from looting and burning homes there, Human Rights Watch (HRW)reported on Tuesday. The abuse mirrors the treatment of roughly 30,000 displaced people from the nearby town of Tawergha, who have also been blocked from returning home for at least five months, the rights group said said. Officials in Misrata apparently sought to justify the violations to HRW, contending that people from Tomina, Kararim, and Tawergha fought with Gaddafi forces and committed atrocities against Misratans during the 2011 conflict. “Tomina and Kararim are ghost towns because Misrata officials are blocking thousands of people who fled from returning home,” said Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director at Human Rights Watch, who recently visited the villages and met with displaced residents. “Armed groups from Misrata are openly looting and destroying their homes, as they have been doing for months in Tawergha.” "The Misrata authorities should issue immediate orders to the militias they control to stop the looting and home destructions, and should deploy a protective security forces in the affected area to facilitate the return of displaced people," HRW said. Libya's ruling National transitional Caouncil (NTC) has so far been unable to assert control over the hundreds of militias operating in Libya. But in Misrata local military authorities, including the military council, appear to have influence over many of the city’s 250 militias. The Misrata Military Council apparently operates checkpoints, including one 80 kilometers south of the city. “The Misrata authorities can definitely do a lot more to allow returns now and to protect civilian property,” Bouckaert said. “They are required to take action to stop these crimes under international law.” Ramadan Zarmuh, head of the Misrata Military Council, told HRW in early February that the problems in Kararim and Tomina are between the residents of the towns, or “between neighbors.” He said that solving the problems will require the former residents of the two villages to surrender their “criminals” so they can be brought to justice. NTC head Mustafa Abdel Jalil, made a similar point  in February, telling media that families could return to the areas around Misrata “as soon as those who are wanted face justice.” "Allowing communities to return to their homes should not be linked to the prosecution of individuals who may be implicated in wrongdoing. Action is needed now to ensure that displaced people can return before their homes are occupied or destroyed and their displacement becomes permanent. Preventing the return of an entire community amounts to unlawful and arbitrary collective punishment," the rights campaign group said. Displaced residents of Tomina and Kararim told Human Rights Watch that Gaddafi forces had ordered the civilian residents of both villages to evacuate their homes on May 12, 2011. The residents of Tawergha fled with retreating Gaddafi forces in mid-August. Some residents of Tomina and Kararim who tried to return to their homes in recent months supposedly told the rights group that Misrata militia members had stopped them at the checkpoint 80 kilometres south of Misrata. Gunmen checked the villagers against lists of those wanted for collaboration with Gaddafi forces or direct involvement in crimes committed during the war, they said. The villagers  claimed they were not on the list, but were still prevented from going home. Instead, militia members took them to a fenced-in complex just outside Tawergha where they remained. The villages of Tomina and Kararim previously had about 5,000 residents each, many of them loyal to the former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, displaced villagers said. Many villagers lived on small farms that their families had owned for about 60 years. Gaddafi forces used the two villages, Tawergha, and other towns and villages near Misrata, as staging grounds for attacks on rebel-held Misrata during the war, including a siege in April and May that gravely impacted civilians. Tawergha, which used to have 30,000 residents, was reportedly empty, and displaced Tawerghans were harassed, attacked, and arrested by Misrata militias, sometimes leading to deaths in detention, stated HRW. On February 6, a group of militias attacked a camp of displaced Tawerghans in the Janzour district of Tripoli. According to 10 witnesses, seven men, women, and children were killed and more than 15 were wounded. On more than a dozen visits to Tawergha by Human Rights Watch between September and January, researchers saw Misrata militia members burning and destroying homes. In late January, HRW found almost no properties in Tawergha that were undamaged by fire. “Deportation” or the “forcible transfer of population” can be a crime against humanity by virtue of Article 7(d) of the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court. It is defined as the “forced displacement of the persons concerned by expulsion or other coercive acts from the area in which they are lawfully present, without grounds permitted under international law.” Preventing a displaced population from returning could be a “coercive act” leading to forced displacement. This is a crime against humanity if committed on a widespread or in a systematic manner, as part of a deliberate policy by an organized group such as the military councils. Under the law of armed conflict, the evacuation of a population during an armed conflict is permitted under limited circumstances, but the evacuated people must be permitted to return once the conflict has ceased. Ordering the displacement of a civilian population,the wanton destruction of civilian property, and the collective punishment of civilian populations can amount to war crimes.  “The new Libya is not a safe place if you are from Tawergha, Tomina, or Kararim,” Bouckaert said. “Some Misrata militias took up arms to get rid of oppression, and they are now bringing it back by oppressing others.”