Claiming Human Rights - in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya

The Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya is a member of the United Nations and the African Union. It has ratified many UN Human Rights Conventions (compare list on the right) and thus has made binding international commitments to adhere to the standards laid down in these universal human rights documents.

The Libyan Arab Jamahiriya is an Arabic-speaking country in North Africa. The country with an area of 1,759,541 square km borders the Mediterranean Sea to its north. It is the fourth largest country on the African continent. On a global scale, its population density is very low. The capital of the country, which was relinquished by Italy on 10 February 1947 and finally became independent on 24 December 1951 from the United Kingdom and France (UN Trusteeship), is Tripoli. The Libyan Arab Jamahiriya is a member of the regional economic communities AMU, COMESA and CEN-SAD.

With a Human Development Index of 0.85 the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya ranks 55^th of 182 countries ranked in the UNDP Human Development Report of 2009. Life expectancy of the 6.3 million inhabitants at birth is 74 years, population growth is 1.9 percent per year. GNI is 11,590 US-$ per capita.

In as far as the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya has ratified the Optional Protocols for UN Human Rights Conventions or has accepted the Competence of the corresponding UN Treaty Bodies (compare list on the right), the inhabitants of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and their representatives are able to invoke their human rights through these bodies.

All inhabitants of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya may turn to the UN Human Rights Committee through procedure 1503, to the Special Rapporteurs for violations of specific human rights or to ECOSOC for women's rights violations.

Since the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya is a member state of UNESCO, its citizens may use the UNESCO procedure for human rights violations in UNESCO's fields of mandate.

Employers' or workers' and certain other organizations (not individuals) of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya may file complaints through the ILO procedure in the cases of those conventions which the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya has ratified.

Since the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya is an AU member, its citizens and NGOs may file complaints to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

They may also file complaints according to the EU guidelines (on Human Rights Defenders, Death Penalty and Torture) to Embassies of EU Member States and the Delegations of the European Commission.

In cases of human rights violations by multinational enterprises, they may also invoke the National Contact Point in an OECD member state.

The Libyan Arab Jamahiriyahas has not yet joined the International Criminal Court.