The UN’s Human Rights Council is about to release a report praising Libya, a country currently engaged in bombing its own citizens. A country currently creating a humanitarian crisis as refugees flee into neighboring states to get away from their dictator. That Libya, the same country the UN itself is pondering booting from the Human Rights Council, is about to get a big wet kiss from the UN’s august commission charged with overseeing the state of human rights in this world.
The review commends Libya for improving educational opportunities, for making human rights a “priority” and for bettering its “constitutional” framework. Several countries, including Iran, Venezuela, North Korea, and Saudi Arabia but also Canada, give Libya positive marks for the legal protections afforded to its citizens — who are now revolting against the regime and facing bloody reprisal.
Why not commend a state for the “legal protections afforded to its citizens” when those same citizens are running for their lives as the “legal protections” earning such praise have proven to be just a bit weaker than the guns being fired at those citizens?
UPDATE: Libya has been “suspended” from the UN Human Rights Council. The fate of this report hasn’t been made public yet.
