UN panel begins human rights investigation in Libya

2011-04-28 06:24:02 GMT+7 (ICT)

UNITED NATIONS (BNO NEWS) -- A United Nations three-member international panel on Wednesday arrived in Libya to begin an investigation into the violence and human rights abuses in the North African country.

The panel was sent by the UN Human Rights Council and will report its findings in June. The inquiry was ordered after reports of serious human rights abusers since forces supporting President Muammar al-Qadhafi began a crackdown against protesters earlier this year.

In Libya, peaceful anti-government protests turned into open conflict between opposition groups and the Qadhafi regime. An estimated 615,000 people have fled the country so far, with more than 10,000 evacuated from the troubled city of Misrata.

The UN Security Council authorized Member States to take all necessary measures, including military intervention, to protect the Libyan population. Due to the violent repression on protesters, the General Assembly suspended Libya's membership in the Human Rights Council.

The inquiry is led by Professor Cherif Bassiouni, an Egyptian jurist and war crimes expert who has previously served as a UN rapporteur. He is joined by Asma Khader, a Jordanian-Palestinian lawyer, and Canada's Philippe Kirsch, the first president of the International Criminal Court.

Also on Wednesday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) established an international aid presence in the Libyan capital, Tripoli. In addition, humanitarian workers were deployed to operational bases in Benghazi and to the neighboring Tunisia, Egypt, Chad and Niger.

The UN remarked that medical supplies and staff are the biggest priorities to address the humanitarian crisis. UN agencies have been sending relief supplies, including the World Food Program (WFP), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

According to the UN aid agencies, an estimated $130 million are urgently needed to fund all relief operations, including supplying of food and water. So far, $129 million in funds have been received.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-04-28

Incidentally due to Libya's flagrant human rights abuses they have been removed from the UNHRC to be replaced by....

Syria!