ODVV Statements at 16th Session of the Human Rights Council

Item 6: Libya UPRMr. President,
Yet again, the people of the world have witnessed the unacceptable slowness of the international community’s response towards a horrendous human tragedy. We saw this in Bosnia-Herzegovina, we saw this in Rwanda, Darfur, but astonishingly we saw it yet again happen in Libya.
Does the United Nations not take lessons from past events? How many human tragedies does it have to take before international law and humanitarian law mechanisms become very effective?
Too often we see politics and national interests interfere with human rights, international law and humanitarian assistance, and by the time the self-interest based differences are settled among the powers that be i.e. the Security Council, thousands and hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians are killed and butchered indiscriminately.

Mr. President,
As a human rights NGO, while condemning in the strongest possible terms, the brutal events that have unfolded in Libya over the last few weeks, we also strongly criticise the international community that includes heads of states and international organizations in the unacceptable slow response they made towards the human tragedy that was and continues to unfold in Libya. The whole concept of the founding of the United Nations and its bodies was to prevent human tragedies taking place.
We urge the Human Rights Council to set up a special committee to review the UN Security Council’s methods of approach towards crises and for this committee to present recommendations to the General Assembly on making international community’s response towards human tragedies much quicker and more effective.

Thank you