Libya Matters

On 25 June 2014, Libyan human rights activist and lawyer Salwa Bugaighis celebrated casting her vote in parliamentary elections. Hours later, she was brutally murdered in her own home, a crime which sent shockwaves through Libya’s civil society movement. In the first episode of a special new season marking the tenth anniversary of Libya's 2011 uprising and the birth of that civil society move...

Libyan human rights activist and lawyer Salwa Bugaighis was assassinated on 25 June 2014. Nobody has been held accountable. To many, Salwa embodied all that is positive about the civil society movement that emerged from the 2011 uprising which she helped lead, and she remains an inspiration to this day. 2021 marks the 10th anniversary of that uprising. To mark this historic milestone, we have prod...

When is a peace process a success? What role do human rights, justice and due process play? Is it ever ok to sacrifice those for political expediency? What part should civil society organisations play?  In this special episode, Elham Saudi takes the hot seat and talks to Tarek Megerisi, Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, and co-host Marwa Mohamed, about her experience and...

In previous episodes we’ve explored avenues for accountability, but what about legal measures that may prevent it? In our season finale we discuss amnesties, which are rather popular in Libya (there have been at least four since 2011 that we know of). We’re joined by Rupert Skilbeck, barrister and Director of REDRESS , an organisation focused on seeking redress for victims of torture.  We discuss...

According to the UN, as of September 2020 there were 392,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Libya. Each one has a story, and each one has rights, but what are they? This week we talk with one of the world’s foremost experts on this often-misunderstood subject, Cecilia Jimenez-Damary. Cecilia is a human rights lawyer with over two decades of experience as an advocate for human rights in the...

The Libyan media scene has exploded since 2011, but from established international outlets to fake news churned out by armies of Twitter bots, how can we navigate it? To guide us, we’re joined by Ahmed Gatnash, co-founder of the Kawaakibi Foundation, an accelerator for thinkers and doers focused on the future of liberty in Arab and Muslim societies, host of the Arab Tyrant Manual podcast and co-au...

What is life like for Libyan women right now? What challenges are Libyan women dealing with? Can we even speak of Libyan women in general? Asma Khalifa is an activist, researcher, co-founder of the Tamazight Women’s Movement and Khalifa Ihler Institute, and leading Libyan thinker on intersectional feminism. We ask her how women’s rights work gets done, or doesn’t, in Libya today.  You can find Asm...

What is art? What is culture? And what role do they play in Libya today? We’re delighted to reflect on Libya’s conflict in a very different way with one of the country’s best-known artists, Hadia Gana. Hadia has worked with ceramics and glass and produced many fascinating installations, and as a leading advocate for cultural heritage, recently founded Libya’s first art museum. Discussing the link...

 Last year, LFJL and SOAS, University of London were honoured to welcome Mr Pablo de Greiff, the UN’s first Special Rapporteur on the Promotion of Truth, Justice, Reparation and Guarantees of Non-recurrence, to deliver the inaugural Annual Justice Lecture. Pablo is a greatly nuanced and lucid thinker. As we prepare for this year’s lecture, we listen again and reflect on the state of Libyan justice...

What does accountability mean? And how do we achieve it? Leading legal advocate and academic Valentina Azarova joins us to discuss how we can think outside the box and be more creative when seeking justice, why we need to stay focussed on the bigger picture when dealing with a crisis and where international law has its limits.  You can find Valentina on Twitter at @ValentinaAzarov ** Libya Matters...

Shockingly, one in five households in Libya has had a person forcibly disappeared. What does it mean to be disappeared? How does it impact the disappeared person, their family and the wider community? This week, we have the privilege of joining inspiring human rights defender and women’s rights activist Jabir Zain to hear how he survived enforced disappearance in Libya.  ** Libya Matters is a prod...

This week we’re joined by Alex Whiting, Deputy Prosecutor of the Kosovo Specialist Prosecutor’s Office, Harvard Law Professor of Practice (on leave), former ICC and ICTY prosecutor and renowned criminal law expert. We discuss why justice has been so hard to achieve in Libya and why we should not give up on the International Criminal Court just yet. In a time of global crisis when the political wil...

We’re back! It’s been a year since the end of Season 1 and so much seems to have changed without anything feeling like it has! Does that even make sense? To help guide us through it all we talk to Tarek Megerisi, Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and one of the most prolific writers on Libya. He tells like it is and boy do we need that!    If you enjoyed this episode, plea...

We're super excited to launch Season 2 of Libya Matters! This season is different. We go deeper and explore themes we've not done before, but we're still going to be asking the not-so-easy questions. Join us, as we challenge ourselves to think, learn and get uncomfortable as we bring nuance to all matters Libya.

 In this episode, Dr Wolfram Lacher, Senior Associate at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs and author of "Libya's Fragmentation: Structure and Process in Violent Conflict", joins hosts Elham Saudi and Marwa Mohamed to discuss sanctions. They discuss what they are and how they work, who has the authority to impose them and, most importantly, whether they are...

In this episode, Hafed Al-Ghweel, non-resident Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute of the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at John Hopkins University, joins host Elham Saudi to discuss divisions in Libya. Through a rich and comprehensive discussion of the past and current situation, Hafed walks us through the many internal separations in Libya: the historical context, cult...

In this episode, we talk about migration with Matteo de Bellis, Amnesty International’s researcher. As we try to debunk the official narrative in a relaxed and engaging chat, we share some interesting facts and stats and real solutions as to why migration is not a crisis, but rather a phenomenon. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave us a review and a 5 STAR rating on iTunes. You...

In this episode, Poonam Joshi, Consultant Director at Funders' Initiative for Civil Society and former Executive Director of the Sigrid Rausing Fund, joins host Elham Saudi to discuss the threats and attacks civil society and human rights defenders face in Libya. Together, we explore how and why the space for civil society in Libya is shrinking, and how, as human rights defenders, we can begi...

In this episode, Tim Eaton, Research Fellow in the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House, joins Elham to talk money. By discussing how politics and economics in Libya intersect and influence each other, Tim walks us through the conflict war economy in Libya, how the economic structure itself has helped fuel the conflict, and who is really benefitting from this situation. If you e...

In this episode, hosts Elham Saudi and Marwa Mohamed are joined by the amazing Laila Alodaat, Director for the Middle East and North Africa at the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, to focus on women. The episode delves into the specific impact of conflict on women and why women are so vital to peace and state-building. It also celebrates the bravery of Libyan women in the fa...

In this episode, Frederic Wehrey, Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and author of the book The Burning Shores: Inside the Battle for the New Libya , joins Elham to unpick US policy in Libya. Together, they retrace what happened at the Committee of Foreign Affairs' Congressional Hearings in May 2019, and try to understand whether US engagement in Libya can be posi...

This week, host Elham Saudi is joined by the brilliant Tarek Megerisi, policy fellow of the North Africa and Middle East program at the European Council of Foreign Relations. We discuss the role of international actors in Libya, and the competing goals and interests that have often frustrated progress on the ground. During the conversation, we also ask ourselves what the Libyan view of the outside...

In this week’s episode, Carla Ferstman, Senior Lecturer at the University of Essex and former head of Redress, joins Elham and Marwa to talk about accountability in Libya. Through the lenses of human rights and international humanitarian law, Carla helped us understand what accountability really means and why it matters so much in the Libyan context (and beyond). If you enjoyed this episode, pleas...

In this special episode, we bring you behind the doors of an exclusive event we held at The Conduit Club in June. "Libya: the forgotten revolution" was our chance to discuss the protracted conflict in Libya with an amazing panel which included Ian Martin and Hisham Matar. From the impact on Libyan society to the role of international actors to the forgotten victims, listen to our guests...

In this episode, Geoff Howard, a Libya analyst with great expertise on conflict resolution, joins Elham and Marwa to discuss why Libya is the exception to traditional peace-building models, and how to find better-fitted and more viable solutions to the Libyan conflict. While sharing his insight on peace-settlement, Geoff explains to us how political negotiations could be more successful, or at lea...