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UNITED NATIONS The UN Human Rights Council has appointedCanadian jurist Philippe Kirsch to a panel investigating humanrights abuses in Libya just weeks after the Gadhafi regimefavoured him to arbitrate in a long-running dispute it has withSwitzerland. Kirsch, 63, will be one of three jurists on a panel headed byEgyptian-born Cherif Bassiouni, a war crimes expert who lives inthe United States. Libya said in mid-February just before the current protestsbegan that it had agreed with Switzerland to have Kirsch presideover a tribunal aimed at resolving differences between the twocountries following the 2008 arrest by Swiss authorities of a sonof Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. It was unclear Friday whether Kirsch is currently serving asarbitrator between Libya and Switzerland at the same time the HumanRights Council has named him to its investigatory panel. While neither Kirsch nor a designated spokesperson for theGeneva-based council could be reached for comment, one UN officialsaid serving on both could constitute a "conflict ofinterest." In New York, Swiss diplomat Johanes Kunz said from the Swissmission to the UN that he was aware of the arbitration, but added:"We are not commenting on the Libyan affair; everythingconnected with Libya." Gadhafi's rage with Switzerland reached a peak in February 2010,when he called for jihad or holy war against the landlockedcountry after the Swiss voted against the building of minarets. But even before the Swiss vote, Gadhafi had ordered a series ofretaliatory measures against Switzerland after the Swiss arrestedhis son Hannibal and Hannibal's wife, Aline Skaf, in Geneva andaccused them of having assaulted two servants while staying at aluxury hotel in the city in July 2008. The 47-member Human Rights Council decided unanimously Feb. 25 thanks to the defection of the Libyan delegation to launch aprobe into alleged human rights abuses in Libya amid reports ofattacks by forces of the Gadhafi regime on Libyan civilians. Kirsch has an extensive record as an international jurist, havingserved as a judge on the UN's first permanent war crimes tribunal,the International Criminal Court, from 2003 to 2009. He was alsothe court's first president, and has been described by UN SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon as the "father of the ICC." But the Human Rights Council has in the past played what some humanrights monitoring groups have called a "supportive" roleregarding Libya despite successfully requesting the UN GeneralAssembly to suspend the Arab country's council membership March 1. "Judge Kirsch has a reputation as a serious (jurist) and wewelcome his appointment," said Hillel Neuer, executivedirector of the Geneva-based monitoring group UN Watch. "But serious questions remain whether the Human Rights Councilhas any credibility on Libya." UN Watch has for years campaigned for UN action against JeanZiegler, a Swiss national, who currently sits as a council adviser.According to UN Watch, Ziegler co-founded the widely criticizedGadhafi Human Rights Prize, though Ziegler denies the charge. The monitoring group also recently launched a campaign calling onUN Human Rights chief Navi Pillay to fire Libyan national NajatAl-Hajjaji from her post as UN investigator of human rightsviolations by mercenaries. UN Watch describes her as a"longtime representative" of the Gadhafi regime, whichhas extensively used mercenaries in its bid to quell the Libyanrebellion, according to reports. Completing the Human Rights Council's three-person panel will beAsma Khader, a Jordanian lawyer. Council president Sihasak Phuangketkeow, the Thai ambassador to theUN in Geneva, said he planned to contact the Libyan government toseek permission for the panel to enter the country. "Everything will be in place hopefully by two weeks," theambassador estimated. But some UN officials privately doubted thatthe Gadhafi regime would allow the team to travel to Tripoli fortalks. The tribunal overseeing the dispute between Switzerland and Libyawas also to comprise three jurists. It was to report within 60 daysof being established, the Tribune de Geneve reported last month.The newspaper said that the terms of reference for the tribunal didnot include investigating human rights violations allegedlycommitted by Libya against two Swiss businessmen it arrested in thewake of Hannibal Gadhafi's arrest. While both are now out of Libya,the Gadhafi regime jailed one for four months. Other retaliatory measures Libya took included cancelling oilsupplies, withdrawing billions of dollars from Swiss banks,refusing visas to Swiss citizens and recalling some of itsdiplomats. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Industrial Panel PC , Industrial LCD Displays Manufacturer, and more. For more , please visit Rugged Military Computers today!
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