Brussels, 24/02/2011 (Agence Europe) - After his meeting on Wednesday 23 February with United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, Commission President José Manuel Barroso said of the bloody repression of the opposition uprising in Libya: “It is intolerable to see the army using force against civilians … and I think we have to demand from the Libyan authorities very clearly that they stop violence, tell them that repression is not the solution and that we will support the aspirations of the Libyan people”. He added, more generally, on events in North Africa and Libya, that help must be given to those who seek freedom, justice, democracy and human rights. “And we have the instruments and the means to help that fight”, he stated. The Commission is putting together a package to help the North African countries move towards democracy and human rights, reform of judicial systems, education and job creation. This aid will be provided through existing instruments (including partnership instrument, instrument for stability, instrument for democracy, vocational training programmes).
High Commissioner Pillay said that the Human Rights Council would hold a special meeting devoted to Libya on Friday morning. She hoped that this meeting would back her proposal to open an international investigation into the bloody repression of the protest movement. She spoke, too, of crimes against humanity in Libya.
Of the influx of Libyan refugees in to Europe (especially Italy), Barroso said that “we are following the situation very closely”. He said that, if necessary, the EU had to be ready to act. A response had to be found that is compatible with EU values. Barroso also took issue with the threats made by Muanmar Gaddafi to send hundreds of thousands of people to Europe: “Our mission is to defend human rights, and we have to prepare to resolve problems in a European way”. Member states must “show solidarity” if one EU country has suddenly to face a massive influx of refugees. Barroso said the EU would use existing instruments, those which are within the Community's area of competence and those over which member states had sovereignty. “We will not amend current legislation”, he said.
The influx of refugees to a country should not be seen as a threat to security but as a humanitarian problem, Navi Pillay said. (L.C./transl.rt)