General Assembly suspends Libya from the UN Human Rights Council

(March 02, 2011) The General Assembly on Tuesday suspended Libya from the United Nations Human Rights Council for “gross and systematic” human rights violations because of President Muammar Al-Qaddafi’s violent repression of peaceful protesters demanding his ouster. The vote by the 192-member Assembly, for which a two-thirds majority was required, followed a request last Friday from the Geneva-based Council itself that it suspend the North African country – one of the top UN right’s body’s 47 elected members – and was passed by acclamation. It was the latest measure taken against Mr. Qaddafi’s regime by the UN, where the Security Council has already imposed sanctions and requested that the International Criminal Court investigate it for possible crimes against humanity. Only Venezuela expressed reservations about Tuesday’s suspension on the grounds that an investigation was needed first – but it did not stand in the way of the vote. Terming the Qaddafi regime’s actions “flagrant human rights violations,” the President of the General Assembly, Joseph Deiss, warned that there can be no security or development without respect for rights. “The credibility of the international community, the United Nations General Assembly, the Security Council and the Human Rights Council is at stake in ensuring that these rights are respected and that human rights violations are punished,” he told the representatives gathered in the hall before the vote. Also addressing the Assembly before the vote, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon voiced grave concern at the continued loss of life, “the ongoing repression of the population and the clear incitement to violence against the civilian population by Colonel Qaddafi and his supporters.”