Acting Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity, Abdelhamid Dbeibah, hastened to create the General Administration for the Protection of Public Morals, a new department within the Ministry of the Interior. It follows the declarations of the Minister of the Interior, Imad Trabelsi, who last week announced measures restricting freedoms and especially those of women, according to Human Rights Watch. Starting this Friday, November 15, the authorities in western Libya will implement the imposition of the hijab on women and girls, and separation measures between men and women in public places in Tripoli. The moral police are responsible for preventing, according to the government, “the spread of phenomena contrary to the values of society”.
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According to the Libyan government in Tripoli, the tasks of the General Administration for the Protection of Public Morals boil down to controlling crimes and violations committed in the public space relating to legislation.
This administration aims to combat the actions “ incompatible with societal trends » and who could “ offend one’s values, morals and principles ”, according to the text.
Citizens are also encouraged to report individuals to this administration who could then investigate and collect evidence.
This new administration is a sort of Libyan version of the apparatus for promoting virtue and preventing vice deployed in religious regimes.
Also readLibya: the Minister of the Interior wants to impose the wearing of the veil on women and girls from the age of 9
Human rights observers and NGOs fear that these new decisions could turn into mechanisms aimed at undermining freedoms and settling political, social and cultural scores, as well as muzzling human rights activists. men and to prevent Libyan women from exercising or defending their rights.
Human Rights Watch said Wednesday (November 13) that the government and the international community should not tolerate any measures that violate women’s human rights. On the contrary, they must respect and protect the human rights and dignity of everyone in Libya.
Prime Minister Dbeibah’s detractors accuse him of siding with fundamentalist Islamists to gain their sympathy and thus continue to assert himself in power in Tripoli.