This decree grants the Basic People’s Congresses the power to declare a state of mobilization, based on a proposal from the General Provisional Committee for Defense (Article 1), in situations where an external danger exists (such as threat or outbreak of war, or threat to the country’s security, sovereignty, or independence) or in response to an internal danger (such as a threat to the authority of the people, natural disasters, epidemics, or other threats to the life, security, and safety of citizens) (Article 2).
Particularly relevant to children are the below provisions:
- Article 5: “The General Provisional Committee for Defense shall take all necessary actions to implement the provisions of the law on mobilization. In particular, it shall… Impose military service on every person holding the nationality of the Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, aged between eighteen and fifty-five years, with the exception of those tasked with duties related to the war effort during mobilization. Non-Libyan volunteers may be accepted.
- Article 12: Within one week from the call for mobilization, nationals of hostile countries and those with which political ties have been cut, who are aged over eighteen years, shall present themselves to the local public security where they reside to register their names and submit their documents and information, nationality, and civil and financial status.