Europe has spoken for years about the need to support national unity in Libya—yet its actions have consistently undermined it. The women’s conference held in Tripoli this week stands as a direct challenge to that record. Organized under the banner of the National Forum for Unity and Peace, the event brought together hundreds of women from across Libya and emerged as a continuation of last week’s unprecedented gathering of nearly one thousand Libyans. That earlier meeting—attended by MPs, members of the High Council of State, civic leaders and community representatives—demonstrated the widening momentum behind a return to the 1951 Constitution and the unifying role historically played by the monarchy under Crown Prince Mohammed El Senussi (pictured).
For Europe, this is not an isolated social event; it is a moment that exposes the disconnect between what Libyans are demanding and what European governments have supported for over a decade.
France spent years cultivating Khalifa Haftar as a security partner, even when his campaigns fractured the country, displaced civilians and decisively undermined national unity. Italy backed the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord while pursuing narrow migration arrangements that, although politically expedient, reinforced rival centres of power. The UK threw its weight behind successive UN-led roadmaps that attempted to impose transitional governance models reliant on political figures with limited legitimacy and no constitutional foundation. Rather than building a unified state, these approaches deepened fragmentation and left Libya with parallel governments, competing armies, and an increasingly dire humanitarian situation.
The consequences of these choices were not abstract. Libyan civilians endured years of displacement, collapsing infrastructure and economic decline. Women, in particular, were pushed to the margins as institutions weakened and legal protections eroded. Europe’s contradictory interventions—supporting different factions depending on national interest—turned Libya into a battleground for influence rather than helping rebuild a functioning state capable of protecting its citizens.
Against this backdrop, the women’s conference in Tripoli offers a remarkably different vision: one grounded in constitutional legitimacy, historical continuity and national unity. Participants argued that Libya’s only successful period of nationwide cohesion came under the 1951 Constitution, when the monarchy served as a unifying institution above regional, tribal and political divides. Women’s rights were enshrined, political participation was guaranteed and national identity was not a point of contestation.
This stands in stark contrast to the fragmented frameworks Europe has repeatedly endorsed since 2011.
Speakers at the conference pointed out that the 1951 constitutional order granted women the right to vote before Switzerland, underscoring how deeply equality was embedded in Libya’s original institutional design. They criticised external attempts—such as quota systems advanced by international actors—for failing to address the core issue: without a legitimate constitutional foundation, no imposed framework can deliver meaningful inclusion.
The monarchy’s historical ability to unify Libyans was repeatedly highlighted as a point of national consensus rather than nostalgia. Crown Prince Mohammed El Senussi’s national dialogue tours over the past 18 months have helped mobilise ordinary Libyans—women, youth, cultural groups and civil-society organisations—towards a vision of recovery rooted in constitutional legitimacy and national unity. This is exactly the kind of organic, society-led process European governments have long argued should be the basis for stabilisation, yet rarely supported in practice.
As the women’s conference concluded, its organisers announced future rounds of nationwide women’s dialogue aimed at advancing participation, breaking political stagnation and contributing to a national path that reflects the will of the Libyan people—not the geopolitical preferences of foreign capitals.
For Europe, the message is clear. Libya’s women are articulating a constitutional roadmap capable of restoring national unity, institutional coherence and civilian rights—precisely the outcomes Europe claims to support. The question now is whether European governments are prepared to correct past mistakes and align with what Libyans themselves are calling for.
Libyan women have taken their position. Europe must decide whether it is finally ready to listen.
