Joint Statement by

UN Watch, International Humanist and Ethical Union

and Association for World Education

Agenda Item 4, UNHRC 15th Session

Delivered by Robert Monetti

Mr. President,

As a representative of the victims of the Pan Am flight 103, I am shocked and saddened to see Libya as a new member of this council.

In 1988, my son Rick was a 20-year-old Syracuse University student, studying abroad for a semester in London. Sadly, he was a passenger on Pan Am Flight 103 when it blew up over Lockerbie, Scotland, in December of that year. He and 269 other innocents perished at Libya’s hand. Many of the passengers, like my Rick, were college students.

In 2001, a high-ranking Libyan intelligence agent, Megrahi, was convicted by a Scottish court on 270 counts of murder. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. The trial was long and detailed. The verdict was correct. We all understood that Megrahi didn’t act alone, and he didn’t act on his own. In 2003, in a letter to the UN, Libya finally accepted responsibility for the bombing. This provided some closure.

Yet the wounds were suddenly reopened last year by Megrahi’s early release, and by the circus that followed.

Mr. President, how could Libya give a mass murderer a hero’s welcome?

How is it that a country which systematically violates the rights of its own citizens, and which abducts or murders citizens of other countries, is given a seat on a human rights council?

Why has Libya been granted the power to judge other countries on matters of human rights?

Mr. President, is it because oil is respected more than human rights?

In 2003, Libya was elected as Chair of the Human Rights Commission. Soon after, Secretary-General Kofi Annan concluded that the Commission cast a shadow upon the reputation of the UN as a whole.

Why would this new council, designed as an improvement, repeat the same mistake?

Mr. President, I know that Libya received 155 votes in its favor. Yet if the victims of Pan Am Flight 103 could have a voice, there would be 270 votes opposed.

Thank you, Mr. President.

UN Watch Statement
Agenda Item 3, UNHRC 15th Session
Delivered by Ashraf El Hagoug

Mr. President,

The member states of this Council have pledged to protect the highest standards of human rights.

Many of these can be found in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights:

· Article Six prohibits an arbitrary death sentence.
· Article Seven prohibits torture and inhuman or degrading treatment.
· Article Nine guarantees the right to security and liberty of the person.
· Article Fourteen guarantees the right to a fair trial.
· Articles Two and Twenty-Six prohibit discrimination.

Regrettably, however, victims worldwide are being denied these rights.

For example, regarding Myanmar, the General Assembly expressed concern about the conditions in prisons, and about reports of ill-treatment of political prisoners.

Another example is Venezuela. In December, UN independent experts complained about a blow to the independence of judges and lawyers in the country.

Finally, there is the example of Libya, which violated all of these articles, and all of my human rights.

In 1999, I was arrested under false charges, together with Bulgarian nurses. An arbitrary death sentence was imposed on me, as an outcome of an unjust trial. I was tortured to accept their scenario and to sign the confession. I was detained under inhuman conditions for an extensive period of time. We suffered all types of physical, sexual and psychological torture.

Our trials were seriously flawed. The confessions obtained by torture were used and admitted in court against us. Evidence by all international experts on HIV was disregarded by the Libyan courts.

Mr. President, Who will return those years to us? What can possibly compensate for our suffering, our years of youth lost in the Libyan jail?

Mr. President, in the name of universal human rights, how can Libya be elected a member of the Human Rights Council?

Thank you, Mr. President.