9th June 2011, Geneva; The Maldives, Jordan and Qatar today succeeded in allowing the voice of those rebelling against the rule of Muammar Ghadaffi in Libya to be heard by the international community at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The three countries led efforts to ensure that the Transitional National Council (TNC), based in Benghazi, would be given the opportunity to address the Council even through the UN still recognizes the Tripoli authorities as the only legitimate representative of Libya. Because of this recognition, only Tripoli was invited to the UN to respond to the report of the International Commission of Inquiry (COI) and to discuss the human rights situation in Libya.
Rejecting this situation, the Maldives, Jordan and Qatar, which all recognize the TNC as the only legitimate body representing the aspirations of the Libyan people, worked with representatives of the TNC in Geneva to prepare a message to be delivered by the Ambassador of Jordan on behalf of the TNC and the people of Libya. In the message, the TNC recalled the gross and systematic human rights violations perpetrated by the regime of Muammar Ghadaffi and called on the international community to help establish a new Libya with free elections, the full enjoyment of human rights and independent institutions based on the rule of law. For its part, the TNC promised to comply with all the recommendations given to it by the UN Commission of Inquiry (COI) into human rights violations in Libya.
The Ambassador of Jordan read the TNC's message during the Human Rights Council debate on the COI's report. After the statement, a number of delegations including Palestine on behalf of the Arab Group, Qatar, Jordan, Maldives, France, UK, US and Canada stood to welcome the statement and to call for Ghadaffi to step aside and face prosecution of crimes committed by his government.
ENDS