27 NGOs to Launch Campaign to Suspend Libya
Geneva, September 15 — Bob Monetti of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, whose 20-year-old son was murdered in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, will tomorrow be one of several victims of Libyan human rights violations addressing the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, to protest the Qaddafi government’s new membership on the controversial 47-nation body. Monetti will be representing the Lockerbie Victims Association.
In tandem, a global coalition of 27 human rights groups, led by the Geneva-based UN Watch, will launch a campaign calling on U.N. member states to remove Libya from the council under a clause allowing for suspension of countries that commit systematic violations of human rights.
The government of Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi took its seat on the council for the first time this week, in a 3-week session that concludes on October 1st. This will allow Libya to influence the definition of women’s rights, mandates on freedom of speech and religion, and an expected two resolutions on Israel. The council was created in 2006 to replace the discredited Human Rights Commission, which earned scorn when Libya was elected as chair in 2003.
Also presenting tomorrow will be Mohamed Eljahmi, brother of the late Fathi Eljahmi, one of Libya’s most well-known political prisoners and torture victims; Kristyana Valcheva, one of the five Bulgarian nurses who were framed, imprisoned and tortured for eight years on false charges of poisoning children with HIV; and Ashraf El-Hajouj, the Palestinian doctor framed and tortured together with the nurses.
Rick Monetti, killed on Pan Am Flight 103
