Rabab Halab: Bringing Libyan Women Into the Electoral Process.

Rabab Mohamed Halab, Board Member of the High National Elections Commission (HNEC), is a Libyan human rights lawyer and one of the most prominent voices advocating for women’s rights, transitional justice, and women’s political participation in Libya.

She began her career as a lawyer in Zuwara, working on criminal, civil, and administrative cases. Her passion for human rights led her to specialize in transitional justice, national reconciliation, and the advancement of women’s political participation.

In 2013, Rabab joined HNEC’s Board of Commissioners by General National Congress Decision No. 40 (2013), becoming the only woman on the Board at that time. She took on sensitive legal files and spearheaded voter awareness campaigns, with a strong focus on empowering women and engaging cultural components often overlooked in electoral processes.

Recognizing the urgent need to enhance women’s representation in Libya, and the urgent need to integrate women’s issues and priorities into the electoral process. In 2017, she established the Women’s Support Unit at HNEC, the first of its kind in the Arab States.

The unit aimed to create a database of women voters and candidates; look into what stops women from participating, such as lack of information, fear of political environments, and digital violence; organize dialogue sessions with women to understand their needs; integrate women’s priorities into the Commission’s work and electoral procedures; launch the first postage stamp symbolically highlighting women in elections; introduce the “Ra’idat” programme targeting young women as future leaders; and build a network of 760 female candidates and prepare them for electoral work.

Rabab also launched the “Awareness Ambassadors” initiative to train women activists to lead electoral awareness campaigns, with special attention to remote areas. Between 2017 and 2018, despite the absence of national elections, the programme succeeded in registering 1.2 million women voters. The ambassadors’ network expanded from 80 to 109 ambassadors across three generations, with preparations underway for the fourth and fifth generations, and contributed to ensuring a safe environment for women’s participation in the electoral process.

Rabab also addressed the issue of digital violence targeting women in elections, especially during the 2021 elections, when several female candidates faced online attacks that led to their withdrawal.

The Commission also collected data from the platform as a first step towards creating a hotline to receive complaints of violence against women during the electoral process. It also issued the “Code of Conduct on Combating Violence Against Women,” targeting electoral stakeholders.

To confront this, HNEC, in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), established “Emonitor+,” the first platform in the region to use artificial intelligence to monitor online attacks against women in politics. Based on the platform’s findings, targeted campaigns were carried out to reduce online violence against women.

Through her role on the Board of Commissioners, Rabab led efforts to increase women’s representation in municipal councils by integrating women’s priorities into municipal election policies. She achieved significant headway in making it essential for women to be on election lists. In big cities, this increased their representation from one seat to three. Her efforts also helped to the election of the first woman as mayor of Zelten city during the first round of municipal council elections held by the HNEC. This was a big step forward for Libyan women.

She also worked to address the priorities of Libyan women married to foreign nationals, who had been denied the right to vote due to restrictions on their national identification numbers. Her efforts paid off in securing their right to vote and to run for office.

Rabab stresses the importance of international support in these achievements, especially from UN Women, UNDP, and other international partners. She says: “The technical and logistical support from our international partners played a major role in turning ideas into tangible reality and in strengthening the Commission’s efforts to ensure an inclusive electoral process and the full participation of Libyan women in political life.”

Her journey has not been easy. She faced pressure, personal threats, and online violence, often as backlash for the change she pushed. Despite this, she stayed methodical and focused.

“This was not the work of one person, but the result of a collective belief in women’s ability to build,” she says. “We left a strong foundation so future generations of Libyan women won’t fight the same battles we did, but will build on what we established for them.”

Rabab Mohamed Halab is a Libyan woman who has turned challenges into opportunities. She has consistently championed the rights of women and girls and has helped lay a strong foundation for their political participation in Libya.

Copyright © UN Women and the High National Elections Commission.