New York, NY (BBN)– Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the United Nations human rights chief have both called on the Libyan authorities to immediately end their violent crackdown on protesters, and the Security Council is meeting on Tuesday to discuss the situation in the North African nation.
Mr. Ban, in a statement issued by his spokesperson on Monday, said he was “outraged” at press reports that the Libyan authorities have been firing at demonstrators from war planes and helicopters.
“This is unacceptable,” the Secretary-General told reporters in Los Angeles, where his currently on an official visit. “This violence against demonstrators must immediately stop.”
The UN chief, who had a 40-minute telephone conversation with Muammar Qaddafi on Monday, said he urged the Libyan leader to stop the violence and strongly underlined the importance of respecting human rights and heeding the aspirations and calls of the demonstrators.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Tuesday called for an immediate cessation of the “grave” rights violations committed by the Libyan authorities and urged an independent investigation into the violent suppression of protests.
A group of UN human rights experts also called on the Libyan government to immediately cease the use of excessive and lethal force. “The situation in Libya is quickly spilling out of control with the government targeting the very people it has been mandated to serve,” they stated in a news release. “Adopting tactics such as the use of live ammunition to crush dissent is unacceptable.”
The UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary execution, Christof Heyns, stressed that such acts cannot go unpunished. “By engaging in a massacre of its own people, the government of Libya is guilty of committing gross violations of human rights which could amount to crimes against humanity.”
The experts voiced concern about the reported use of military planes to attack protesters, the alleged involvement of foreign mercenaries in killing the protesters, and the arbitrary arrests of individuals including lawyers, human rights defenders and journalists.
BBN/SSR/AD-22Feb11-11:22 pm (BST)
