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STORY: GENEVA / LIBYA HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
TRT: 1:57
SOURCE: UNTV CH / UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / ARABIC / NATS
DATELINE: 27 SEPTEMBER 2016, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, exterior, Palais des Nations
2. Various shots, delegates
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Kate Gilmore, Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations:
“Armed groups act with complete immunity, continuing to abduct, torture and kill civilians on the basis of their perceived, or actual family links, origin, or political affiliation.”
4. Wide shot, delegates
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Kate Gilmore, Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations:
“Migrants seeking to leave Libya by boat have recounted abuses against during and after interception by vessels allegedly belonging to the Libyan coast guard. Migrants were beaten with sticks or gun butts, robbed personal belongings and taken with no legal process to detention centres.”
6.Wide shot, delegates
7.SOUNDBITE (English) Martin Kobler, Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL):
“The continuing political and military instability is impacting heavily on the economy. The government is spending 93 per cent of its total budget on subsidies and salaries including those of the member of arm groups that are not under the control of the government. It is probably the only country where the state is financing armed groups out of government subsidies and paying the salaries."
8. Wide shot, delegates
9. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Moussa Al Khouni, Deputy Prime Minister, Libya:
“The transitional period witness in Libya has so far proven that achieving any progress on human rights and the rule of law remains subject to achieving political and security stability and the extent of our ability to put an end to terrorism, especially the so-called Da’esh organization which was defeated by the forces of the national reconciliation government’s presidential council, and is close to wiping them out from the city of Sirte.”
10. Wide shot, delegates
The United Nations (UN) today said that violations and abuses of international human rights law in Libya are still widespread as armed groups act with complete immunity, continuing to abduct, torture and kill civilians.
Speaking to the UN human rights council today (27 Sep) in Geneva, the UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Kate Gilmore said civilians are being attacked by armed groups on the basis of their perceived, or actual family links, origins, or political affiliation.
On violence against migrants, Gilmore said “migrants seeking to leave Libya by boat have recounted abuses against during and after interception by vessels allegedly belonging to the Libyan coast guard. Migrants were beaten with sticks or gun butts, robbed personal belongings and taken with no legal process to detention centres.”
On the impact of continuing political and military instability on the country’s economy, the Special Representative for UNSMIL Martin Kobler said “the government is spending 93 per cent of its total budget on subsidies and salaries including those of the member of armed groups that are not under the control of the government. It is probably the only country where the state is financing armed groups out of government subsidies and paying the salaries.”
Libyan Deputy Prime Minister Moussa Al Khouni said his government of national reconciliation took on its responsibly just a few months ago and needed more time to reactivate its security and judicial institutions to address human rights violations. He said the country’s transitional period proved that “ achieving any progress on human rights and the rule of law remains subject to achieving political and security stability and the extent of our ability to put an end to terrorism.”
In March 2015, the UN's human rights council requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) urgently to dispatch a mission to investigate violations and abuses of international human rights law committed in Libya since the beginning of 2014, and to establish the facts and circumstances of such abuses and violations with a view to avoiding impunity and ensuring full accountability.
In February 2016, OHCHR presented the council a detailed findings on the investigation.
