1 March 2011 – The General Assembly today suspended Libya from the United Nations Human Rights Council for “gross and systematic” human rights violations because of President Muammar Al-Qadhafi’s violent repression of peaceful protesters demanding his ouster.
The vote by the 192-member Assembly, for which a two-thirds majority was required, followed a request last Friday from the Geneva-based Council itself that it suspend the North African country – one of the top UN right’s body’s 47 elected members – and was passed by acclamation.
Notice the resolution was passed "by acclamation" (or consensus), thereby avoiding the need for Qaddafi supporters such as Venezuela to go on the record with a vote for or against. Venezuela's delegate got his comments into the record after the resolution was adopted, praising “friendly” Security Council members who had prevented the resolution from becoming “an instrument of war,” and condemning the “war-mongering mobilization” of the United States in the Mediterranean Sea.
Read the text of the resolution and more comments here.
It's been a while since I saw the Rocky Horror Picture Show, but I think I remember how The Time Warp went:
It's just a jump to the left, and then a step to the right.
Pretend you're real offended, but do your voting out of sight.
UN General Assembly, you are an inspiration.
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