FROM the United States (U.S.) and the United Nations (UN) have come condemnation of the unlawful arrest, detention and killings of Nigerians and other black Africans in Libya.

Both the UN and the U.S. are calling for an end to the maltreatment, which has become more intensified since the onslaught on Tripoli by the rebel forces of the Libya National Transitional Council (NTC).

A statement from the U.S. State Department on Monday evening said the U.S. “is deeply concerned about reports of arbitrary detention and abuse of sub-Saharan African people in Libya” as the struggle to end the 42-year rule of Muammar Gaddafi continued. The State Department said the U.S. is looking forward to prompt implementation of measures that will end the abuses.

The U.S., which noted that many of the Africans being maltreated are migrants and refugees, said “we also understand that some Libyans are being victimised based on the colour of their skin. Nobody should be detained or harassed due to the colour of his skin or his nationality, and measures must be taken to protect individuals from acts of violence.”

The U.S. government stated that it has welcomed the National Transitional Council (NTC’s) assurances of its commitment to safeguard the well-being of individuals throughout Libya and the TNC leadership’s co-operation with those international agencies engaged in identifying and assisting those at risk and those detained.

Other international agencies working to end the maltreatment were said to have included the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, International Committee of the Red Cross, and the International Organisation for Migration, the U.S. government disclosed.

It added that it is working with its international partners to facilitate safe passage out of Libya for those foreign nationals, “including sub-Saharan African migrants who wish to depart for their own safety.”

Similarly, the UN Secretariat, speaking through the Deputy spokesperson to the Secretary-General, Eduardo del Buey, told The Guardian recently that the “Libyan NTC knows that our position is that all people must be protected and that human rights must be respected in all situations.”

He disclosed that during his recent visit to Libya, the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on post-conflict planning, Ian Martin, visited two police stations and the Al-Jedaida Prison in Tripoli, and also spoke to both Libyan and non-Libyan prisoners, including sub-Saharan Africans detained during the fall of Tripoli.

Buey added that the UN Special Adviser “stressed the urgent need for the basis of detention to be reviewed by public prosecutors, and to inform the prisoners’ families of their rights.”

According to him, the UN is seriously concerned about the situation. “We’ve seen reports in the media, the question of balancing justice with human rights is being addressed by the UN,” the official said.

It would be recalled that the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) had earlier called on the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights to ask Libya to stop the killing of Nigerians and other black Africans in that country.

SERAP expressed serious concern that the NTC was failing to live up to its international obligations, adding that this reflected a failure to identify racists, discriminatory and unlawful killings as serious issues.

“Yet, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights requires all state parties, including Libya, to ensure to all persons their fundamental rights without distinction of any kind, including race, language, religion, national origin, or other status,” the organisation added.

It continued: “The NTC has a positive obligation to prevent and punish human rights abuses by its agents or private actors. But the NTC is permitting or failing to take appropriate measures, or to exercise due diligence to prevent, punish, investigate or redress the harm caused by the unlawful killing of Nigerians and other black Africans.

“Indeed, in the instant case, SERAP argues that the NTC has the additional duty to take all reasonable steps to unmask any racist motive and to establish whether or not ethnic hatred or prejudice may have helped play a role in the events highlighted above.   Failing to do so and treating racially-induced killing and brutality on an equal footing with cases that do not have racist overtones would be to turn a blind eye to the specific nature of acts that are particularly destructive of fundamental rights.”

It said the arbitrary and unlawful killing, victimisation and persecution of innocent Nigerians and other black Africans in Libya by agents of the NTC constituted a fundamental breach of Libya’s obligations under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, in particular the right to life, and equality and non-discrimination.

Posted by admin on Sep 14 2011. Filed under Africa & World Politics, Latest Politics, United Nations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry