UN Rights Council Readying Resolution Praising Qaddaffi

Today: UN Rights Council Readying Resolution
Praising Qaddafi's Human Rights Record

UN Watch: 2010 review was a mistrial,
opposes adoption of today's report
Amnesty USA chief says report is "abhorrent," calls for "redo"

GENEVA, March 14, 2012 -- A UN report praising the Qaddafi regime's human rights record will receive its final plenary hearing today before being formally adopted next week by the 47-nation UN Human Rights Council, sparking outrage among human rights activists from UN Watch as well as Amnesty USA.

CLICK HERE FOR QUOTES OF PRAISE FOR QADDAFI REGIME

Libya was reviewed by the council on November 9, 2010 and the report, replete with praise for the Qaddafi regime, was meant to be adopted in the March 2011 session.

However, a strong protest by the non-governmental UN Watch monitoring group, which also led last year's successful NGO Campaign to Remove Libya from the UN Human Rights Council, generated headlines in the New York Times and other media worldwide, causing a red-faced UN to postpone the report's adoption until now.

"The council's review of the Qaddafi regime was a fraud, and should be declared a mistrial," said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch.

Similarly, Suzanne Nossel, the head of Amnesty USA and a former senior human rights official in the Obama Administration, recently described the UN report as "abhorrent," and called for a "redo."

Despite the council's own inquiry this year finding evidence of war crimes by the Qaddafi regime, the UN Human Rights Council, will today hold the final hearing of the outcome of Libya's review, to be formally adopted next week.
The report's main effect, said Neuer today, "was to falsely praise Qaddafi's oppressive regime, insult his victims, and harm the reputation of the UN."
"The report completely contradicts the council's own commission of inquiry, which found evidence of Qaddafi war crimes. The review should be entirely redone, and the council should set an example of accountability by acknowledging that its original review was deeply flawed."
"Although the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism is often described as the council's saving grace, the vast majority of council members used it to falsely praise the Qaddafi regime for its alleged promotion of human rights," said Neuer.
The report also includes praise of the old regime's record by Qaddafi-era diplomats who changes sides and now represent the new government. "With Libya's own UN diplomats admitting that the Gaddafi regime was a gross violator of human rights, it would be nonsensical for the UN to adopt this false report," said Neuer.
"We call on the council president to acknowledge that the council's review of the Qaddafi regime's record was a fraud, withdraw the report, and schedule a new session in which council members would tell the truth about the Qaddafi regime's heinous crimes, which were committed over four decades yet ignored by the UN," said Neuer. "Libya's long-suffering victims deserve no less."
The UN report's summary notes that delegations "commended the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya," and that they "noted with appreciation the country’s commitment to upholding human rights on the ground."
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Chronology: UN Watch's Campaign to Remove Libya From the UN Human Rights Council
• May 2010: UN Watch leads 37 NGOs in a protest on the eve of Libya’s election to the UNHRC, with a widely covered media event at UN Headquarters in New York, and a mass email campaign. Countries are urged to oppose Qaddafi's candidacy. Instead, in a secret ballot, the UN elects Libya by a landslide of 155 out of 192 UNGA votes. UN Watch warns on Swiss TVthat Qaddafi’s government is a “murderous and racist regime.” Not a single country speaks out against Libya's candidacy or election.
• September 2010: Libya takes its seat at the council. UN Watch launches a global campaign, supported by 30 NGOs, and victims of Libyan abuses, to remove the Qaddafi regime. To confront the Libyans in the plenary UN Watch brings Bob Monetti, whose 20-year-old son was murdered in Libya’s 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103; Mohamed Eljahmi, brother of slain dissident Fathi Eljahmi; 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; andAshraf El-Hajouj, the Palestinian doctor framed and tortured together with the nurses. The Libyans and their allied regimes rudely interrupt the speakers. The incident and the victims’ appeal to remove Libya is widely covered by dedicated stories in Voice of America and Agence France Presse, and by a cover story in Sweden’s Neo magazine. “The HRC grants legitimacy to ‘murderous’ Gadaffi regime,” reported Radio Netherlands on UN Watch’s campaign. Yet the UN council and its member states stay silent.
• November 2010: When Libya’s abysmal human rights record is addressed under the council’s universal review procedure, UN Watch renews its call for the Qaddafi regime to be removed. The appeal is reported by Germany’s DPA, Swissinfo and elsewhere. Yet the UN council and its member states stay silent.
• February 21, 2010: Working closely with Libyan dissident Mohamed Eljahmi — who sounds the alarm on massive atrocities being committed by the Qaddafi regime — UN Watch spearheads an international appeal by 70 human rights groups to remove Libya. The plea for UN action is covered around the world. Three days later, the EU requests a special session of the Human Rights Council, but fails to contest Libya’s council membership.
UN Watch has been the leading voice at the United Nations challenging Libyan human rights abuses for many years. To see videos, click here.

www.unwatch.org

UN Watch is a Geneva-based human rights organization founded in 1993 to monitor UN compliance with the principles of its Charter. It is accredited as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in Special Consultative Status to the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and as an Associate NGO to the UN Department of Public Information (DPI).

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