Southern Youth to United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL): Improving the economy and security are priorities
Thirty-four youth from across the south of Libya joined Deputy Special Representative for the Secretary General Stephanie Koury in an online youth consultation Wednesday to discuss their opinions on the Advisory Committee’s recommendations.
The event is part of broader consultations to gather feedback from the public on the next steps of the political process. UNSMIL has also launched an online poll inviting Libyans to share options on the Advisory Committee’s recommendations and contribute to shaping the way forward in the political process.
Participants stressed the need for representation for the south in any mechanism or institution, highlighting that they suffer through economic instability and insecurity across borders and do not benefit from oil money.
The youth all agreed that the deteriorating economic situation was closely linked to the security situation and one could not be solved without addressing the other. They highlighted that they wanted stability and security and their voices to be heard in representative forums.
“We suffer from weak infrastructure with power cuts during 50-degree heat,” said one participant from Ghat. “We are deprived of basic services. We need to focus on these things, not a constitution.”
The economic situation is so bad, another participant from Ghat said, that it’s impacting the security situation. “This is why people are making their livelihoods from selling weapons,” they said. “We need to have a clear economic plan,” said a participant from Sebha. “We need to end the sources of corruption.”
A participant from Ubari called for transitional periods to end. “Through the years and different governments, our divisions have only increased,” said a participant from Sebha, adding that the best way forward was to have a referendum.
When discussing elections, the youth expressed distrust in the national authorities’ ability to oversee elections and in the democratic process overall. One spoke of how votes had been bought; people he knew sold their voter cards in the previous elections.
DSRSG Koury briefed participants on the four options put forward by the Advisory Committee in May. As outlined in the Executive Summary of the Advisory Committee’s report, the options include:
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Conducting presidential and legislative elections simultaneously;
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Conducting parliamentary elections first, followed by the adoption of a permanent constitution;
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Adopting a permanent constitution before elections; or
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Establishing a political dialogue forum, based on the Libyan Political Agreement to finalize electoral laws, executive authority and permanent constitution.
Many of the participants who joined favoured option four saying that this was the only option that ended the current cycle of entities that they felt did not represent them or the people of Libya.
UNSMIL stressed that youth voices were crucial to the political process and that it intended to continue with its YouEngage outreach efforts.
All participants were encouraged to complete UNSMIL’s online poll [link] and share it with their friends and families to ensure community voices are heard.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL).
