İBTİSAM AXFİR

Benghazi- Since the uprisings that started on February 17, 2011 and ended the 42-year rule of Muammar Gaddafi, no stability has been achieved in Libya. In 2011, the majority of the more than 40,000 residents of Tawergha, a Libyan town about 30 km south of Misrata, were expelled from their homes and have remained displaced for the last decade. Most of these families still live in Internally Displaced Person (IDP) settlements across the country, including Tripoli, Ajdabiya and Benghazi. According to the 2021 report of the UNHCR, around 7,000 of the displaced people returned to Tawergha. The women of Tawergha have struggled for 11 years in a country that has suffered from economic crises and political conflicts. These women now want to have a say in local elections.

Women face challenges

Libyan activist Amina Abdel Karim Al-Mabrouk says that the women of Tawergha always face challenges while trying to participate in politics. Underlining that the Tawergha municipality must be an independent municipality, not a municipality under the control of the Misrata municipality, she said that the women of Tawergha have the right to run for municipal council elections like other women from different cities of Libya. “There are women who ran for municipal council elections, such as Sartieh Saleh from the Abu Salim municipality in Tripoli. I would like to point out that women did not run for the council of the Tawergha municipality because there was one seat in the council and this seat has been reserved for a man.”

The town is not independent

Indicating that the Tagergha Municipality is a branch of the Misrata Municipality, which makes candidacy of women impossible and not only difficult, Amina Abdel Karim Al-Mabrouk said that the town is not an independent town despite the decision of the interim government in 2015.

Women must be supported

Underlining that successive governments in Libya have not addressed the issue of the displaced people and their right of return to their homes, Amina Abdel Karim Al-Mabrouk said that serious steps must be taken to rebuild life in the town. “Women’s political participation must be supported and at least a seat must be reserved for women. Many activities and seminars must be held to support women’s political participation,” she said.