Groups call for UN to hold urgent human rights meeting on Libya
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
February 21, 2011
Geneva – A group of 24 non-governmental organisations called on Monday for the United Nations Human Rights Council to urgently convene and take action on Libya, as political unrest in the North African country is being met with heavy-handed force.
‘The government of Libya is committing gross and systematic violations of the right to life…Citizens seeking to exercise their rights to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly are being massacred by the government,’ said a statement by the groups.
‘These actions constitute a widespread and systematic policy and practice of atrocities… which reach the threshold of crimes against humanity,’ said the groups, which include UN Watch and the National Endowment for Democracy and Physicians for Human Rights, which won the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize.
The coalition wants Libya’s membership in the Geneva-based Human Rights Council suspended, and an independent fact finding mission dispatched to investigate abuses.
Security forces in Libya have reportedly used heavy weaponry against anti-government protesters who are calling for an end to four decades of authoritarian rule by Moammar Gaddafi, his family and their inner circle.
Should attacks on civilians continue, the non-governmental organisations said the UN Security Council in New York should intervene.
