Human Rights In Libya - Essay Example

?Topic: In Libya human rights are severely violated by Moammar Gaddafi Table of Contents Introduction………………………………………………… Page Research and Analysis…………………………………. Page 3 I. Weaponization in Libya…………………. Page 6 II. Global economic shortfall………………. Page 7 III. Violence of Human Rights………………. Page 7 IV. Peacemaking in Libya……………………… Page 8 Conclusion………………………………………………….. Page 9 Final Note…………………………………………………… Page 10 Bibliography………………………………………………… Page 11 Introduction: In this phase of discussion, I would give a brief idea on Libya’s Political History. Libya as an independent state emerged on 24th Dec 1951 through negotiation in United Nations by King Idris. Libya was proclaimed a constitutional and a hereditary monarchy under King Idris. Libya was firstly a poor state with a weak economy, but the condition immensely changed when a discovery of significant oil reserves was made in 1959.Economy boosted from a subsequent income of petroleum sales to many countries in need of oil to progress and within a span of time, Libya got recognized as one of the wealthiest country as measured by per capita GDP. King Idris ruled Libya for about 11 years after independence when he was thrown by a military coup named Col. Moammar Gaddafi in 1969 in the name of Revolutionary Command Council, who legally owned no position but ruled the state for about 42 years. Gaddafi’s regime was proceeding with a motto of unity, freedom, socialism and was taking an active part in Palestanian Arab cause, unity between Arab states and encourages domestic policies according to social justice. Gaddafi’s new government worked on non exploitation and on an equal distribution of wealth. In his early years Gaddafi claimed the withdrawal of all foreign military officials, along with the closure of Air base for U.S and British Military in 1970s. Afterwards, he also ordered for the expulsion of thousands of Italian residents and the closure of libraries, community centers and cultural councils operated by foreign governments. Later in late 70s his political, religious and cultural ideology which was known as Revolutionary Views were being transferred through peoples bureau and institutions operated overseas. Gaddafi ruled Libya for about 41 years in the name of democracy and equality. His son carrying the same theory said: “My father has been promoting the idea of direct democracy in Libya for almost 26 years now,” he said to New York Times reporter Craig S. Smith in December, 2004. “It’s quite rational and logical that we have to continue in that direction.” Here one can decide the level of democracy governed by a Colonel and not letting fresh mind and blood to come with better ideas to rule the country. Gaddafi stuck to his position until the outer forces forced him to leave his governance. Gaddafi’s false democracy was a disguise of dictatorial views which he kept on imposing on civilians in the name of democratic elections. But there must be a lot good that he has done with his people for which the public was quiet and happy for about 41 years. It is undeniable that Gaddafi provided his people the best sources of income and highest per-capita income in Africa.Fight in Libya is now no more a civil war but expanded until NATO forces interfered and branched out the issue into different aspects: United States and E.U was concerned for Libya’s interest in long range ballistic missiles and other development of missiles, and both conventional weapons and weapons of mass destruction. Sanctions were also passed through International Governmental Organization to Russia to stop arms export to Libya. Human Rights were violated in Libya by Gaddafi’s regime. Peacemaking in Libya cannot be achieved until there is a close civil-military co-operation. All these issues will be analyzed and discussed further in this research. Research and Analyses Keeping this backdrop in view, I would proceed my discussion with a lot of questions arising in one’s mind that: How did this play came to an end? Who started this end up session for Gaddafi’s regime? Was it a game designed by U.S, British and French? All these questions are not easy to answer as there are a lot of things and deals hidden under piles but all these question come under a simple question: Was it worth it to the US and EU to “make deals” with Gaddafi at the cost of filling innocent people and will it cause a global economic fallout? Answer to this question need a wider view of facts and figures which are kept blurred to the civilians. The outlook of this intervention of U.S and E.U in Gaddafi’s government after such a long period seems to be an off time of a long played serial. The climax was perfectly up to the mark and Gaddafi acted incredibly until he got a signal of a formal escape, but whatever the deal behind the scene was, we need to analyze the cores and to see that if it was a deal then Gaddafi was a beneficiary, but what huge he would get to leave his regime and governance of about 42 years, there could be nothing to replace his place, position and power. So claiming it a deal is not appropriate. The maximum we can go to the root cause is that the crises began like all other Arab nations, popular youth revolt. Youth was somehow inspired by the strong presidential system in Tunisia and started protesting for a change in the government policies. Protests are often held as peaceful demonstrations and have happened all over the world but sometimes a small spark can set off a violent riot and this is what exactly happened that demonstrations against Gaddafi ended up in a civil war which resulted as a history changing event. In response, Pro-Gaddafi Libyan forces acted out to keep the people calm but Mercenaries in the name of Libyan forces shed a bloody operation with heavy gun fires in different parts of the country. Earlier, Ibrahim Dabbashi, Libya's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, said Gaddafi had started a "genocide against the Libyan people". Keeping in view, all the reports it seems as if this was fermented by the outer forces set by U.S and E.U. and when Gaddafi actually used his forces to save Libya and his government, the situation was out of control. Civilians were not in a situation to understand Gaddafi’s position and believed the bloodshed is in response to their protest by Pro-Gaddafi forces. The entire situation tangled up and rose as a civil war. This is when U.S and E.U intervened with the agreement of UN, not only with all the defensive measures and NATO forces but also with several sanctions and claimed to obsolete all the Libyan and Gaddafi’s assets around the globe. US and EU worked in the name of violence against Human Rights in Libya by Gaddafi. Answering the question given above: There could be other possible ways to throw Gaddafi out of the scene or if it was a deal Gaddafi could have left his position in Libya with other valid reason instead of sacrificing innocent people, but this would never lead to a good name for U.S for being considerate of civilians and standing for Human Rights and Gaddafi, a corrupt leader should have no place to survive as a leader. This is understood with the previous experiences with other countries that U.S with other standing committees interferes in the political affairs even if not asked for. Taking in view the statement of Gaddafi, it seems relevant to the situation that petroleum can be the only factor of U.S interest. Why would any country spend a huge amount, resources and time to stand for Human Rights where this matter can be solved far more simply? Moreover, US and EU are the highest consumers of oil. This can be true but only acceptable after authentic proves. Weaponization in Libya: Going into a deeper look, US was not satisfied about “an extensive Iranian presence in Libya, which included the development of missiles, and both conventional weapons and weapons of mass destruction. Some 100 military contracts are said to have existed, and there is apparently an Iranian-built plant in Libya to produce liquid fuel for Libyan missiles. U.S was undoubtedly insecure about the increasing defensive measures taken by Muslim States and have asked Libya to unarmed the missiles through shipping them to U.S but Libya kept some SCUD-B for defensive purposes which were not technically very sound and does not have long range efficiency. Does this act not violate the independency of a state? Why is every nation answerable to U.S or E.U for keeping defensive measures to what extent? U.S did not once justified the use of it weapons against civilians in Afghanistan, Waziristan in Pakistan, Palestine in the name of war against terrorism. Furthermore, U.S and E.U put pressures on UN to either put sanctions on Russia for exporting arms to Libya or force Russia to sign a decree to put a total arm embargo on Libya. Russia was not in a favor of getting sanctions, signed a decree with UN Security Council against Libya on 26 Feb.2011. Thus, this would cost Russia a loss of more than $4 billion out of $8.6 billion which Russia earns through selling arms. “On February 28 the United States announced that it had frozen $30 billion in Libyan assets linked to Qaddafi.” Global economic outfall: Under this heading I would answer the question asked above: All these sanctions and unstable situation in Libya is causing a global economic fallout leading to a loss to many industries like Aviations, arms and ammunitions, food sectors and many more.Royal Dutch Shell, a major oil company relocated all its expatriate and employees with their dependents. This gives a clear idea of how Libya crises are affecting economical stability of an individual. It was also reported in Al-Jazeera: “Emirates airlines and British Airways suspended all flights to Tripoli on Tuesday, citing the violence in the country, even as Italy, France, Turkey, Greece and several other countries were preparing to send aircraft to evacuate their nationals from the country.” U.S is not an economy based state but a military based empire, this why they have sacrificed millions of dollars in putting up sanction to oil exploration companies which are now been shut since a decade for the sake of Iraq invasion and now Libya. This war was simply not for the sake of Human Rights but for seizing Libyan Oil and turning it to their Multi-nationals which will strengthen the U.S and E.U economy but have greatly affected the rest of the nations like Japan and Russia. Violence of Human Rights: When the protest started, Libyan government was trying to calm down the demonstrator by asking them to stay at home but the fight got into a violent riot and Gaddafi pro-government forces started a bloodshed and airstrikes were also been done to sweep the demonstrators. The death toll went to 300 people killed within a week. Gaddafi’s son claimed that no airstrikes were done on civilians but was done in desert in response to western airstrikes. “TRIPOLI, Libya — NATO widened its campaign to weaken Moammar Gadhafi’s regime with airstrikes on desert command centers and sea patrols to intercept ships, the military alliance said Saturday, amid signs of growing public anger over fuel shortages in government-held territory.” released in The Washington Post. This is also undeniable that NATO targeted Gaddafi’s compound and killed his three grandsons and one of his son. Does this come under human rights that children not involved have to pay on the behalf of Gaddafi? “The African Union's missive came after Western forces at least 112 missile strikes on Libyan air defenses to neutralize what they called Colonel Gaddafi's reign of terror on civilians in his country” The Washington Post. Striking on the defense system of Libya and Gaddafi’s compound does justify the policy of Human Rights. NATO should be compelled by other states to clear the issues that were they there to save endangered people or to deprive a state with all its infrastructure and technical advancements. It was clearly stated by the Russian and Turkish government that they do not favor the western intervention in Libya and to make it clear Russia and Turkey are NATO’s third largest member. How can an organization act without the approval of all its members. Peacemaking in Libya: Peacemaking in Libya is considered to be impossible without civil-military cooperation. The majority in Libya are suffering from different crises and shortfalls and are not in a stable situation to think for their betterment. But with the passage of time as it heals, Civil Societies and Military Agency will sit together to strengthen their position on globe. One need to reassess that why this operation was done by U.S and E.U in Libya, in reply to this they will definitely come up with their plans to impose in Libya for their objectives which is no less then seizure of oil wells. This issue will be solved by U.S and E.U by their self appointed civil-military officials to infuse a new theory of democracy and liberalism after they will be done with their objective of seizing oil control. Though Gaddafi signed new contracts with western oil companies and Japanese corporations in 2010 which was mainly favoring and benefiting the western companies, but it was not enough for the west to keep an eye on its own business. Conclusion: According to my analyses and study over this issue I can say that Western forces attacked Gaddafi’s regime because Gaddafi refused to participate in Western Military operation in Africa and Middle East.In 2010, United Nation Security Council awarded Gaddafi Regime, a clean bill of Health and now the neighboring leaders at this turnabouts of Gaddafi have adopted silence on this western military assault. The U.S led assault on Libya, with the majority of air sorties and missiles strikes being carried out by the Obama regime, is part of a more general counter-attack in response to the most recent Arab popular pro-democracy movements. The West is backing the suppression of these pro-democracy movements throughout the Gulf; it finances the pro-imperial, pro-Israel junta in Egypt and it is intervening in Tunisia to ensure that any new regime is “correctly aligned”. It supports a despotic regime in Algeria as well as Israel’s daily assaults on Gaza. In line with this policy, the West backs the uprising of ex-Gaddafites and right-wing monarchists, confident that the ‘liberated’ Libya will once again provide military bases for the US-European military empire-builders. This is overall an agenda by Israel followed by west and mainly by Obama Regime because approximately whole of the U.S economy and infrastructure is dependent on a handful number but powerful Israelites. The same war was followed in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, and now Libya with a lot more in line like Egypt, Bahrain, Syria, and in no time Pakistan will be its target too. Final Note: This paper will help you better understand the situation occurred in Libya by outer forces like U.S and E.U. This does not only effect Libyans but this was in continuation of U.S sought wars around the globe. U.S is used as a puppet by Israeli Minds with a mission of controlling minds and power, their main motto is to attain the hold of power, wealth and technological advancements not only in West but equally in East. This paper will given a thorough outlook of the picture painted by U.S and now targeting to repaint the picture after a passage of time. This report is based on facts and figures either given in authentic Newspapers or in Official Websites. Nothing is self based except the conclusion which is written on both a personal view and factual reports. This paper contains a future perspective of Libya as well predicted by think-tank and other journalist. References: Newspaper Article Print: First Note: Middle East Newsline: May 25, 2004, under the article: Extensive Iranian Presence in Libya, Extensive Missile Development, Contracts. Newspaper Article Print: First Note: April 12, 2004: New York Times: News, under the article: Libya to Renounce Long Range Missiles, Proliferation Ties with North Korea; To Shorten Scud-B Range. Newspaper Article Print: First Note: Libya May Retain Scud B Missiles March 10, 2004: Reuters: News Magazine Article: First Note: By James Petras and Robin B. Abaya, Global Research, Mar.31, 2011. Bibliography: Peace Alliance Winnipeg News, article: The Euro-US war on Libya: Official lies and misconceptions of critics Website: Al-Jazeera : First Note: Fresh violence rages in Libya Bibliography: Protesters say security forces using warplanes and live fire 'massacred' them, as UN warns of possible 'war crime. Last Modified: 22 Feb 2011 12:13 GMT U.S Department of State: First Note: U.S. State Department Background Notes 1994; ? Read More