Friday, February 25, 2011

 “We want an independent, impartial and credible inquiry team sent to Libya under the auspices of the United Nations,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said.
“This mission would be able to measure the scale of crimes committed and notably whether crimes against humanity occurred,” he said.

“Every possible response should be studied, including taking the matter up with the international justice authorities,” the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the U.N. Human Rights Council will hold a special session on Libya this Friday at the request of Western and Latin American nations, who are pushing for an international investigation into the killings of protesters.
Fifty countries signed a call for the Human Rights Council to hold the special session, the first such sitting against a council member.

But with a majority of Asian and African nations, backed by Russia, China and Cuba, declining to support a draft resolution, diplomats say it was likely to be heavily watered down and perhaps not passed at all at the emergency meeting.
France, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, called on the U.N. Rights Council to adopt the draft, which would also seek the expulsion of Libya from the group. 

“It is a good sign that a member state of the council is not immune to a special session,” observed Peter Splinter from Amnesty International, adding that “the General Assembly should look at the suspension of Libya.”
When Libya was elected in May 2010 to the council, Tripoli pledged it is “fully committed to the promotion and protection of human rights principles at the national, regional and international levels.”
But popular revolts have prompted Gadhafi’s regime to order a violent crackdown, with the army and air force sent in to crush opponents through live fire and aerial bombardments.

The protests have also prompted U.S. President Barack Obama to dispatch Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to next week’s opening of the Human Rights Council’s 16th session to come up with a strategy on Libya.
According to a draft resolution for the session, the council will try to set up a U.N.-led investigation into the violence to ensure “full accountability.”

But many non-governmental organizations want to invoke a provision which allows for the suspension of a member state if it has been found to commit serious human rights violations. – Agencies