9th June 2011, Geneva: The Maldives, Qatar, Jordan and the UK today tabled a new draft UN human rights Resolution on the human rights situation in Libya. The resolution seeks to extend the mandate of the International Commission of Inquiry (COI) until March 2012 so that it can complete its investigations into human rights violations in the country. When presenting its initial findings to the Human Rights Council today in Geneva, the COI requested that its mandate be extended because of the complexity of the situation in Libya and the scale of the violations which have taken place.
In his concluding remarks after the presentation of the COI report, the Chair of the Commission, Dr. Sherif Bassouini, noted that between 1948 and 2008, over 93 million people have died in conflicts, however less than 1000 people have ever been prosecuted. Dr. Bassouini noted that a key goal of the COI and the UN must be to secure accountability for crimes committed and thus, because of this and the complexity of the situation, it is imperative that the COI be allowed to continue its work. Indeed, the Chair proposed that it may be necessary for the international community to establish a permanent truth and accountability mechanism in the country.
Taking their lead from these conclusions, the core group of sponsors, Maldives, Jordan, Qatar and the UK, have drafted and tabled a resolution expressing extreme concern at the human rights situation in the country, calling for accountability to be established for violations, and extending the mandate of the COI for a further nine months, at which time it will present its final report to the Human Rights Council. A number of other countries, including the US, Mexico, France, Turkey and Palestine are also supporting the draft resolution.
The Council will vote on the draft resolution on the 16th June.
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