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“In these circumstances, the loss of time means more loss of lives,” he told the 15-member body during a meeting on peace and security in Africa, noting that estimates put the death toll in recent days at more than 1,000. “It is time for the Security Council to consider concrete action.”

The Council agreed to meet tomorrow to consider urgently a draft resolution “including specific targeted measures aimed at putting an end to violence, helping achieve a peaceful solution to the current crisis, ensuring accountability and respecting the will of the Libyan people,” the Council President, Brazilian Ambassador Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, told reporters after consultations.

Mr. Ban cited reports that Mr. Qadhafi’s supporters are conducting house-by-house searches and arrests. “According to some reports, they have even gone into hospitals to kill wounded opponents,” he said. “In their public statements, Colonel Qadhafi and members of his family continue to threaten citizens with civil war and the possibility of mass killing if the protests continue.”

The Secretary-General, who announced that he would go to Washington on Monday to discuss the situation with United States President Barack Obama, said the media and human rights reports of indiscriminate killings, arbitrary arrests, shooting of peaceful demonstrators, detention and torture of the opposition, and the use of foreign mercenaries are “credible and consistent” even if there is no conclusive proof.

He stressed that the first obligation of the international community is to do everything possible to ensure the immediate protection of civilians at demonstrable risk, and welcomed today’s decision by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva to recommend Libya’s suspension from the body.

“When a State is manifestly failing to protect its population from serious international crimes, the international community has the responsibility to step in and take protective action in a collective, timely and decisive manner,” he declared. “The violence must stop. Those responsible for so brutally shedding the blood of innocents must be punished. Fundamental human rights must be respected…

“The challenge for us now is how to provide real protection and do all we can to halt the ongoing violence. As you look to your next steps, I urge you to consider a wide range of options for action,” he added, noting that proposals before the Council include trade and financial sanctions, including targeted measures against the leadership such as a ban on travel and the freezing of financial assets.

Some Member States are calling for a comprehensive arms embargo, while others highlight the clear and egregious violations of human rights and urge the Security Council to take effective action to ensure real accountability.

“The hours and the days ahead will be decisive for Libyans and their country, with equally important implications for the wider region,” Mr. Ban said. “The statements and actions of the Security Council are eagerly awaited and will be closely followed throughout the region. Whatever your course, let us be mindful of the urgency of the moment.”

He also focussed on the growing crisis of refugees and displaced persons, with 22,000 people reported to have fled to Tunisia and 15,000 to Egypt amid fears among UN refugee officials that much larger numbers of residents and migrant workers are trapped and unable to leave for safety.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) quotes many of those crossing the border as saying the journey was terrifying, with widespread reports of harassment and being threatened with guns and knives.

“It is crucial for humanitarian agencies to have access to the border regions. It is also important for the neighbouring States, including Europe, to keep their borders open to people fleeing Libya. We anticipate the situation to worsen, as the (UN) World Food Programme is concerned about Libya’s food supplies.”

Mr. Ban, who had what he called a “blunt, not easy” phone conversation with Mr. Qadhafi on Monday in which told him the violence must stop immediately, was asked by reporters afterwards if he planned to try to talk to the Libyan leader again to deliver his message.

“I am not sure, after having spoken extensively with Col. Qadhafi, whether he will yield to the calls of the international community,” he replied. “Of course, whenever it is necessary, I am willing to do anything to protect civilian populations and to stop the violence. But he has been trying to justify and defend his position.”

Source: UN News Service

In a resolution adopted unanimously at the end of a special session held in Geneva, the 47-member Council called on the Libyan Government to meet its responsibility to protect its population, immediately end all human rights violations, stop any attacks against civilians, and respect the popular will, aspirations and demands of its people.

Members of the Council are elected by the General Assembly, which has the right to suspend the membership of a country that has persistently committed gross and systematic violations of human rights during its term of membership. The process of suspension requires a two-thirds majority vote by the 192-member Assembly.

Addressing the opening of the session, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay urged action to help end the violence in Libya and to hold perpetrators of atrocities accountable, warning that the crackdown on protesters is getting worse.

“More needs to be done. I encourage all international actors to take necessary measures to stop the bloodshed,” she stated, adding that, according to some sources, thousands may have been killed or injured over the past week.

“Although reports are still patchy and hard to verify, one thing is painfully clear: in brazen and continuing breach of international law, the crackdown in Libya of peaceful demonstrations is escalating alarmingly with reported mass killings, arbitrary arrests, detention and torture of protestors.”

Tanks, helicopters and military aircraft have reportedly been used indiscriminately to attack the protestors, she added.

“The Libyan leader must stop the violence now,” the High Commissioner stressed, pointing out that Libya is a member of the Human Rights Council and pledged to respect human rights, and is also a State party to various international human rights treaties.

She also recalled that under international law, “any official, at any level, ordering or carrying out atrocities and attacks can be held criminally accountable and that widespread and systematic attacks against the civilian population may amount to crimes against humanity.”

A statement delivered on behalf of all of the Council’s independent human rights experts endorsed the High Commissioner’s call for an international inquiry into the violence, stressing that the international community should “act without delay” to protect civilians from serious human rights violations.

Witnesses in and out of Libya consistently describe horrifying scenes, Ms. Pillay told delegates. Libyan forces are firing at protestors and bystanders, sealing off neighbourhoods and shooting from rooftops. They also block ambulances so that the injured and dead are left on the streets.

Reports from hospitals indicate that most of the victims have been shot in the head, chest or neck, suggesting arbitrary and summary executions, she said. Doctors relate that they are struggling to cope and are running out of blood supplies and medicines to treat the wounded.  “Images of unverifiable origin appear to portray the digging of mass graves in Tripoli,” she added.

According to several accounts, killings have also been carried out by foreign fighters who were and reportedly continue to be brought into the country and equipped with small arms and light weapons by the Government to suppress the protests.

In this connection, the High Commissioner’s Office has received reports that some Libyans are turning on refugees and migrants from other African countries, suspecting them of being mercenaries fighting for the Libyan Government.

Ms. Pillay stressed that the safety of all foreign nationals be ensured and that the freedom of movement of those wishing to leave the country be fully respected and protected.

“Libyan authorities must allow the safe passage of humanitarian and medical supplies and humanitarian workers into the country. They must also ensure that the legitimate demands of the protestors are addressed and the fundamental human rights of the population are fully respected and promoted,” she said.

Ms. Pillay also voiced her concern for the safety and well-being of refugees crossing into neighbouring countries, particularly Tunisia, Egypt, Italy and Malta, and urged Libya’s neighbours to open their borders and ensure that refugees fleeing the violence are welcomed and treated humanely.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today commended the “humanitarian spirit” shown by the Tunisian and Egyptian Governments in welcoming and caring for people fleeing Libya.

“We call upon the international community to provide substantial humanitarian support for these two countries,” Melissa Fleming, UNHCR’s spokesperson in Geneva, told reporters. She added that the agency is concerned that Libyans farther away from the border areas and in the capital, Tripoli, are being prevented from fleeing.

The Tunisian Government has declared that its borders are open for all nationalities attempting to flee the ongoing violence in Libya, and reported that some 22,000 people have fled the violence in Libya and crossed over into Tunisia.

The Egyptian Government has told UNHCR that Libyans are welcome and that it is ready to care for all injured and sick people who need to cross the border. A UNHCR team is starting work at the Egyptian border today.

“We hope that all those who need to cross the border will be allowed to do so in a non-discriminatory manner,” said Ms. Fleming.

Meanwhile, a team from the UN World Food Programme (WFP) is on the Libyan-Egyptian border to asses the food needs of those fleeing Libya. The agency said it is ready to dispatch high energy biscuits and provide food assistance to Libyans when the security situation improves.

Source; UN News Service

“There is clearly an extra-territorial dimension,” the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Tomás Ojea Quintana, said in Kuala Lumpur at the end of an eight-day fact-finding mission to Malaysia, one of the affected countries with some 84,800 registered refugees and asylum-seekers and a large number still unregistered. “Despite the promise of the transition in Myanmar, the human rights situation remains grave.”

Other countries in the region also host a considerable number of refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants from Myanmar.

“Countries in the region have a particular interest in persuading the Government of Myanmar to take necessary measures for the improvement of its human rights situation,” Mr. Quintana added. “These measures are an urgent matter for the new Government, and the international community should ensure that Myanmar fulfils this responsibility.”

“I talked to many people who had recently left Myanmar fleeing forced labour, land and property confiscation, arbitrary taxation, religious and ethnic discrimination, arbitrary detention, as well as sexual and gender-based violence,” he said.

These included a man who left Chin State after 15 years of portering and forced labour for the military; a prominent Chin woman religious leader coerced to read a statement at a televised event denying restrictions on religious freedom despite her own views; and a young man who left Northern Rakhine State after he was denied the necessary travel permit to attend university and was arrested for trying to bypass the restrictions.

Another young man left Shan State after years of forced labour, when the military confiscated his family’s farm and his brother was arrested and subsequently killed; he himself was also arrested but managed to escape.

Mr. Quintana will present his latest report to the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council next month.

When a new president and vice-presidents of Myanmar were elected earlier this month by the newly-convened parliament, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had voiced hope that the move would lead to the formation of a more inclusive civilian government broadly representative of all parties “relevant to national reconciliation and more responsive to the aspirations of the people.”

Source: UN News Service

“He hopes that it leads to the formation of a more inclusive civilian government that is broadly representative of all parties relevant to national reconciliation and more responsive to the aspirations of the people of Myanmar,” the Secretary-General’s spokesperson said in a statement.

The statement added that the United Nations stood ready to work with the new government and all other stakeholders in the country to facilitate greater democratization, development and stability.

According to media reports, Myanmar’s parliament elected a former prime minister, Thein Sein, as the country’s new president and chose Tin Aung Myint Oo and Sai Mouk Kham as the two vice-presidents.