Libya: Political Progress, Rising Living Costs & Migrant Rights - Briefing | United Nations

UN Special Representative for Libya Hanna S. Tetteh said, “We have seen encouraging progress on the UNSMIL-facilitated political process.” Addressing the Security Council today (14 Oct), Tetteh said, “Following four months of deliberations, on 30 August, the parties to the Smaller Convening signed an Agreement in Tripoli marking a break in the prolonged political and institutional deadlock.” Moving forward, she added, the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) “intends to work with diverse Libyan stakeholders on other priority issues to create the conditions for the holding of elections and unifying institutions, drawing on the recommendations of the Advisory Committee, the Structured Dialogue, and through ongoing meetings and consultations with diverse groups of Libyan stakeholders. International and regional support remains an essential condition to achieve progress.” She noted, “While global oil prices should have generated a significant windfall for public revenues to benefit the majority of Libyans, many of them are instead seeing their purchasing power eroded by rising food prices, a weaker dinar and inflation right now of above 14 percent, while access to essential public services remain unreliable. Food prices further rose by 3.8 percent in August, with the pressure particularly acute in the West and South, where food costs increased sharply over the summer.” She stressed, “As global fuel prices rose sharply from mid-2026, particularly for diesel, the incentives to divert subsidised fuel to external markets through illicit smuggling activities increased. Between January and September 2026, fuel imports totalled 8.15 million metric tons, at a cost of USD 8.9 billion, of which between 30 and 50 percent of these imports are estimated to be lost to smuggling, worth between USD 2.4 and 4.4 billion.” She reported, “Rising living costs and persistent disparities in public-sector pay are increasingly fuelling popular discontent and social tensions. Throughout September, doctors, health workers and teachers staged strikes and protests in Tripoli and elsewhere over unpaid salary increases, employment conditions and allowances. Moreover, on 27 September, teachers launched a nationwide strike, delaying the start of the school year for around 1.6 million public-school students across Libya.” She also talked about “the wave of misinformation, disinformation, hate speech and incitement targeting refugees and migrants, including those with an irregular status, humanitarian actors and UN agencies and personnel in Libya, including our colleagues who are Libyan nationals. Legitimate public concerns regarding migration must be addressed through responsible policy, dialogue and verified information, not through the spread of hate speech, intimidation or violence.” She stated, “While Libya has the sovereign authority to manage its borders and migration, it must do so in line with its international obligations, including protection from arbitrary detention, torture, other ill-treatment, and refoulement.”


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