Hospitals & Asylums
Re- invest UN Security Council
Resolution 1970 (2011) in a Libyan Constitutional Convention HA-7-3-11
by Tony Sanders
sanderstony@live.com
Introduction
Libya
has a population of 6.6 million. The median age is 24.5 years. There are 24.04
birth, 3.4 death and 20.09 infant death per
100,000. Life expectancy is 77.65 years. Literacy is 82.6%, 92.4%
for males and 72% for females. The GDP is $77.91-89.03 billion.
Growth rate was 3.3% in 2010. Per capita income is $13,800.
Unemployment runs around 30% and one third of the population is estimated to
live below the poverty line.
The Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahirya is
in trouble. More than 1,000 protestors demanding the ouster of Col. Qadhafi have been killed.
UN Security Council Resolution 1970 of February 26, 2011 called for an
arms embargo and seized the assets of Colonel Qadhafi's
family and leadership involved in the suppression of dissent and
violence. The resolution, condemned the use of
force against civilians that began when two protesters of the incarceration of
a human rights lawyer were killed. The Libyan Red Crescent reported that
two of its medics were wounded in a deliberate attack from a base loyal to Qadhafi. More than 1,000
people are reported to have been killed and many more injured as Mr. Qadhafi’s loyalists opened fire on peaceful civilians
demanding his ouster.
There are no political parties, nor constitution, in Libya. Col. Qadhafi himself holds no political title although he is the
de facto head of state. Attacks against civilians must cease. Then
the UN will decide whether to return Qadhafi's money
or invest it in a democratically elected government. Democracy seems to
be the price for the Libyan seat on the Human Rights Council, like the Lockerbie
settlement was contingent on non-permanent membership to the Security
Council. Whereas leadership has violently suppressed dissent the price is
pensions now or prison in a year. The Qadhafi
regime must declare a cessation of hostilities and swear to protect the
democratic process of a Constitutional convention. It remains to be seen
if Qadhafi can be so nonviolent as to be permitted to
run in the elections.
The United Nations must legitimize a Constitutional Convention, that will draw
the plans for the democratic election of a new regime by amending the
Constitution of King Mohammed Idris el Mahdi el Senussi adopted by the National Constituent Assembly on 7
October 1951 and abolished in military coup d’état on 1 September
1969. Following the September 1969 military overthrow of the Libyan
government, the Revolutionary Command Council replaced the existing
constitution with the Constitutional Proclamation in December 1969; in March
1977, Libya adopted the Declaration of the Establishment of the People's
Authority.
Economy
The Libyan economy depends primarily upon revenues from the oil sector, which
contribute about 95% of export earnings, 25% of GDP, and 80% of government
revenue. The weakness in world hydrocarbon prices in 2009 reduced Libyan
government tax income and constrained economic growth. Substantial revenues
from the energy sector coupled with a small population give Libya one of the
highest per capita GDPs in Africa, but little of this income flows down to the
lower orders of society. The African Development Bank is headquartered in
Libya.
Libyan officials in the past five years have made progress on economic reforms
as part of a broader campaign to reintegrate the country into the international
fold. This effort picked up steam after UN sanctions were lifted in September
2003 and as Libya announced in December 2003 that it would abandon programs to
build weapons of mass destruction. The process of lifting US unilateral
sanctions began in the spring of 2004; all sanctions were removed by June 2006,
helping Libya attract greater foreign direct investment, especially in the
energy sector. Libyan oil and gas licensing rounds continue to draw high international
interest; the National Oil Corporation (NOC) set a goal of nearly doubling oil
production to 3 million bbl/day
by 2012. In November 2009, the NOC announced that that target may slip to as
late as 2017.
Libya faces a long road ahead in liberalizing the socialist-oriented economy,
but initial steps - including applying for WTO membership, reducing some
subsidies, and announcing plans for privatization - are laying the groundwork
for a transition to a more market-based economy. The non-oil manufacturing and
construction sectors, which account for more than 20% of GDP, have expanded
from processing mostly agricultural products to include the production of
petrochemicals, iron, steel, and aluminum. Climatic conditions and poor soils
severely limit agricultural output, and Libya imports about 75% of its food.
Libya's primary agricultural water source remains the Great Manmade River
Project, but significant resources are being invested in desalinization
research to meet growing water demands.
History
The Italians supplanted the Ottoman Turks in the area around Tripoli in 1911
and did not relinquish their hold until 1943 when defeated in World War II.
Libya then passed to UN administration and achieved independence in 1951.
Following a 1969 military coup, Col. Muammar Abu Minyar
al-QADHAFI began to espouse his own political system,
the Third Universal Theory. The system is a combination of socialism and Islam
derived in part from tribal practices and is supposed to be implemented by the
Libyan people themselves in a unique form of "direct democracy."
QADHAFI has always seen himself as a revolutionary and visionary leader.
He used oil funds during the 1970s and 1980s to promote his ideology outside
Libya, supporting subversives and terrorists abroad to hasten the end of
Marxism and capitalism. In addition, beginning in 1973, he engaged in military
operations in northern Chad's Aozou Strip - to gain
access to minerals and to use as a base of influence in Chadian politics - but
was forced to retreat in 1987. UN sanctions in 1992 isolated QADHAFI
politically following the downing of Pan AM Flight 103 over Lockerbie,
Scotland. During the 1990s, QADHAFI began to rebuild his relationships with
Europe.
UN sanctions were suspended in April 1999 and finally lifted in September 2003
after Libya accepted responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing. In December
2003, Libya announced that it had agreed to reveal and end its programs to
develop weapons of mass destruction and to renounce terrorism. QADHAFI has made
significant strides in normalizing relations with Western nations since then.
He has received various Western European leaders as well as many working-level
and commercial delegations, and made his first trip to Western Europe in 15
years when he traveled to Brussels in April 2004. The US rescinded Libya's
designation as a state sponsor of terrorism in June 2006.
In January 2008, Libya assumed a nonpermanent seat on the UN Security Council
for the 2008-09 term. In August 2008, the US and Libya
signed a bilateral comprehensive claims settlement agreement to compensate
claimants in both countries who allege injury or death at the hands of the
other country, including the Lockerbie bombing, the LaBelle disco bombing, and
the UTA 772 bombing. In October 2008, the US Government received $1.5 billion
pursuant to the agreement to distribute to US national claimants, and as a
result effectively normalized its bilateral relationship with Libya. The two
countries then exchanged ambassadors for the first time since 1973 in January 2009.
Libya in May 2010 was elected to its first three-year seat on the UN Human
Rights Council, prompting protests from international non-governmental
organizations and human rights campaigners.
Open Skies on the Transitional National
Council
The Libyan Mission to the United Nations declares that the Transitional National Council is the sole national representative of Libya. So far it has received the membership of a few cities but waits for Tripoli and the Southern and Middle Region to join in. The news media should be promoting dialogue between the Transitional National Council and Qadhafi. The Interim National Council held its first meeting on March 5, 2011. The Council derives its legitimacy from the city councils which run the liberated cities, and which had been formed by the revolutionists of the 17th February to safeguard the revolutionary gains and achieve their goals. The problem we in the international community are facing is that the UN stole and to violently suppress claims for just compensation allowed the financing of the ICC. The European prosecutor already incited violence pushing for a "no fly zone" that the U.S. does not support. The Treaty on Open Skies was opened for signatures in 1992 and entered into force in 2002. "No fly zones" are not defined in Art. 2 of the Open Skies Treaty. The “no fly zones” frequently bombed Iraq after the opening of this treaty and complete overthrow the nation after it entered into force. The basic premise of the Open Skies Regime at Art. 2(4) is that the term "observation aircraft" means an unarmed, fixed wing aircraft designated to make observation flights, registered by the relevant authorities of a State Party and equipped with agreed sensors. The term "unarmed" means that the observation aircraft used for the purposes of this Treaty is not equipped to carry and employ weapons. State Party shall have the right to conduct a number of observation flights over the territory of any other State Party equal to the number of observation flights which that other State Party has the right to conduct over it in Section 1(3). “No fly zones” are ultra vires the Open Skies Regime, and “no fly zones” have been and should be prohibited as propaganda for war under Art. 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of March 23, 1976.
UN
agencies on the ground are gearing up to provide humanitarian aid for the more
than 150,000 people who have already fled to neighboring Tunisia and Egypt and
the many more who remain within Libya, with the World Food Programme
(WFP) launching a $38.7 million emergency
operation to provide food aid to 2.7 million people in the three countries
according to the UN News Centre on March
2, 2011. The High Commissioner of Human
Rights can be construed to have a conflict of interest and should be
recused. She is an inside job of the ICC that had a bloody coup and
seized the UN and destroyed the global economy. I had to force her to
stop sending spam emails and now they refuse to stop sending their conference
links, I secretly enjoy. She has also been witnessed inciting
bacteriological and chemical warfare of the sort of abuse of power that
disables Southern Africa, much like every bar certified attorney to be ultra
vires the author. She is the poster child of the poisonous politics Libya
evidently has not abused much under Qadhafi.
The rules of politics are no violence. No poison. No home
invasions. No bar certified attorney may run for executive or legislative
office. No active duty military officer may run for civilian
office. No licensed professional may run for office irrelevant to their
license. Candidates must have a written platform we can confidently
invest in. Every party should have a stockpile of antibiotics and a
physician to protect them and the public from communicable disease and chemical
warfare. We are suggesting a draft constitution from each party to be
recognized. And the freedom of expression in print and
new media to associate safely with all civilians in Libya and worldwide.
Hosting
the Peaceful Parties of the Libyan Constitutional Convention
The African Development Bank headquarters
are located in Libya. The ADB is the most promising agency to secure
Libyan constitutional elections but international and national security forces
of Transitional National Council and those loyal to Col. Qadhafi,
must respect the immunity of the Libyan Constitutional Convention and the
Bank. The United Nations suffers from
the exact same legitimacy issues as Col. Qadhafi – they both need to set down the General of the United
Nations (GUN) and elect a Secretary of the United Nations as choreographed in
the United Nations Charter Legitimate Edition (UNCLE). Not only did the United Nations freeze his
assets but they allowed the ICC to finance a prosecution. The support of the United Nations for the
Transitional National Council is inadequate to garner full geographic and moral
control. The African Development Bank
lends a sense of neutrality to the terra
firma. They have lived long and
prospered under Qadhafi. They are also ideologically inclined to
finance a peaceful democratically elected government, as they have with mixed
results across the continent, over the past few decades.
The African Development Bank must be
careful not to repeat the mistakes of Southern Africa and separate both civilian
and military government and the bar and the executive and legislative branches,
to prevent outbreaks of violence and disease.
Section
4 of the Convention on Privileges and Immunities of
the United Nations of February 13, 1946 extends to the archives of United Nations
documents, by whomever they be composed or held. To enjoy the finest immunity the Convention
has to provide national parties should form around different published drafts
of Libyan Constitutions. The
Transitional National Council cannot be considered more than one political
party. The Transitional National Council
is challenged to legitimize their petition by promulgating an English draft of
the Constitution on the website of the Libyan Ambassadors to the United
Nations. Qadhafi
has not been disqualified by the ICC until a year from February 26, 2011.
Perhaps all he needs is international recognition of his Constitutional
Proclamation of December 1969 and Declaration of the Establishment of the
People's Authority March 1977. The most
peaceful form of transitional government imaginable is that Libyans would unite
on the Internet and divide into different political parties on the basis of
which draft of the Constitution and elective offices they want to be ratified
by referendum.
I
have taken the liberty to write the Libyan Constitutional Union Chairman
Mohamed Ben-Ghalbon to ask that the blinking lights
on their website be turned off. Flashing
lights provoke epileptic seizure and removing this incitement would help to
protect the diplomatic immunity of the Internet English documents archived by
the Constitutional Union under Section 4 of the Convention
on Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations of February 13, 1946
Notwithstanding the potential health risk to the public I have updated the link
to this Constitution of 1951 in the World Atlas. I do not expect the link to last long. But do pray they turn off the flashing
light. And hope that democratization
efforts focus around a constitutional convention and referendum within the
year. Libyan political development has
stalled at socialist military dictatorship since 1969 prohibited the King’s
Constitution of 1951. While Qadhafi has done well for the public health and economy,
the younger generation is tired of being violently suppressed by an
illegitimate military dictatorship.
Being only 24 years old on average Libyan revolutionaries do not
necessarily realize that those who bear arms and the United Nations are equally
illegitimate military dictatorships.
Political parties must be reprimanded if they associate too closely with
armed groups, revolutionary or military under Art. 20 of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of March 23, 1976 that
prohibits by law any propaganda for war or advocacy of national, racial or
religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or
violence. To ensure respect for
the rule of law a Constitutional Convention and Referendum should be the
primary focus for nascent political parties.
North African Politics
The International Institute for
Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA)
tables indicate that Egypt has the lowest voter turnout in any democratic
nation with 16.4% in presidential elections and 19.5% in parliamentary
elections. It is not surprising
Egyptians ousted Hosni Mubarak after three decades. Belying high levels of voter turnout in Tunisiat Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was able to keep power and retain total political
control by providing a relatively high standard of living, at least in urban
areas, before he was ousted at gunpoint.
But Egypt and Tunisia at least have regular elections. The Libyan Arab Jamahiriya does not have any
sort of electoral laws or voter registration system implemented. It is no wonder that Libyan dissatisfaction
with their leader came to armed resistance, whereas Col. Qadhafi’s
claim to national leadership is entirely predicated on his military coup of
1969 that ousted King
Mohammed Idris el Mahdi el Senussi. The Libyan dictator has been at odds with his
diplomatic mission to the United Nations for some time and H.E. Dr. Ali Abdussalam
Treki used his independence to be elected President of the sixty-fourth session of the United
Nations General Assembly on 10 June 2009.
The non-permanent membership of Libya to the Security Council resulted
in Qadhafi settling the tort of negligence for the
Lockerbie bombing in August of 2009. The
Libyan chair on the Human Rights Council triggered a revolution. The Libyan Mission to the United Nations now
openly advocates for the revolutionary Transitional National Authority. Let a multi-party democracy grow from the
current two party system of Qadhafi
and the UN Mission. The African
Development Bank is encouraged to collaborate with the UN Democracy Fund to
host a Constitutional Convention open to Libyan political parties now for a
Referendum by the end of the year. Voter
registration should be entirely voluntary, by valid identification, without any
disclosure of residential information, with absentee ballots for the estimated
150,000 refugees.
North African Politics
|
Country |
Election Type |
Voter Turnout |
Registration |
Voting Age Population |
Population |
|
|
Algeria |
Parliamentary |
35.51% (2007) |
18,760,400 (2007) |
20,806,940 (2007) |
33,333,216 (2007) |
|
|
|
Presidential |
58.07% (2004) |
18,097,225 (2004) |
19,605,085 (2004) |
32,818,500 (2004) |
|
|
Egypt |
Parliamentary |
28.13% (2005) |
31,253,417 (2005) |
44,509,556 (2005) |
77,505,756 (2005) |
|
|
|
Presidential |
22.95% (2005) |
31,826,284 (2005) |
44,509,556 (2005) |
77,505,756 (2005) |
|
|
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya |
|
|
|
3,955,176(2011est) |
6,597,960(2011) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Morocco |
Parliamentary |
37.0% (2007) |
15,462,362 (2007) |
20,555,314(2007) |
33,241,259 (2007) |
|
|
|
Presidential |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tunisia |
Parliamentary |
86.41% (2004) |
4,877,905 (2004) |
6,565,677(2004) |
9.974,722 (2004) |
|
|
|
Presidential |
91.52% (2004) |
4,877,905 (2004) |
6,565,677(2004) |
9.974,722 (2004) |
|
International
Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA)
and CIA World Factbook July 2011