GENEVA, (Reuters) – U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay called today for an international investigation into Libya’s attacks on anti-government protestors, saying they may amount to crimes against humanity.
In a statement, Pillay called for the immediate halt to human rights violations and denounced the reported use of machineguns, snipers and military planes against civilians.
“Widespread and systematic attacks against the civilian population may amount to crimes against humanity,” said Pillay, a former U.N. warcrimes judge.
“The callousness with which Libyan authorities and their hired guns are reportedly shooting live rounds of ammunition at peaceful protestors is unconscionable. I am extremely worried that lives are being lost even as I speak,” she said.
Her office has no presence in Libya but stands ready to support investigations and promote civil, political and economic rights in the North African country, the statement said.
Through contacts with rights groups, Pillay’s office has drawn up a list of victims indicating around 250 people have been killed and hundreds injured during a week’s violence.
“Many human rights defenders and journalists have been arrested. We don’t know if they are alive or not,” Frej Fenniche, chief of the Middle East and North Africa section, told a news briefing in Geneva.
