Libya: Africa’s rights body should act now
Human Rights Watch
25 February 2011 

(…) The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights should impose immediate measures on the Libyan government to end the massive human rights abuses occurring throughout the country, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), Human Rights Watch, and INTERIGHTS said today. The three human rights organizations submitted a joint request to the commission on February 24, 2011, asking it to act on Libya during its meeting in Banjul, Gambia, which began on February 23. (…)

(…)"Colonel Gaddafi has long claimed a leadership role for Libya in Africa," said Clive Baldwin, senior legal adviser at Human Rights Watch. "Africa's human rights body should act now, when some of the continent's worst atrocities are taking place in Libya." 

The organizations' letter sets out human rights violations in Libya since February 16, as documented by Human Rights Watch and others. These include the apparent unjustified killings of hundreds of people who participated in largely peaceful protests by state security forces and mercenaries and efforts to shut down the Internet and exclude foreign journalists, violating freedoms of expression and of information.

The three organizations asked the commission to impose immediate "provisional measures" on Libya to stop the human rights violations, including the unlawful killings, and to ensure that those responsible for crimes are held accountable. (…)

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