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Libya troops held civilians as human shields

NEW YORK (AP) -- Libyan troops loyal to Moammar Gadhafi forced civilians to act as human shields, perching children on tanks to deter NATO attacks, human rights investigators said. It was part of a pattern of rapes, slayings, ``disappearances'' and other war crimes that they said they found.

Libyan rebels put their foot in sign of disrespect on a carpet of Moammar Gadhafi used as a doormat in their camp set up in a district of sympathizers of Moammar Gadhafi in the stronghold city of Tarhouna, 100 kms south east of Tripoli, Libya, Monday. (AP-Yonhap News)
Libyan rebels put their foot in sign of disrespect on a carpet of Moammar Gadhafi used as a doormat in their camp set up in a district of sympathizers of Moammar Gadhafi in the stronghold city of Tarhouna, 100 kms south east of Tripoli, Libya, Monday. (AP-Yonhap News)


Physicians for Human Rights was able to get a team of interviewers into the embattled city of Misrata from June 5-12, just after Libyan rebel forces expelled Gadhafi's loyalists.

Interviewing dozens of survivors of the two-month siege, the Boston-based PHR found widespread evidence of crimes against humanity and war crimes, including summary slayings, hostage-taking, rapes, beatings, and use of mosques, schools and marketplaces as weapons depots.

``Four eyewitnesses reported that (Gadhafi) troops forcibly detained 107 civilians and used them as human shields to guard military munitions from NATO attacks south of Misrata,'' said the report, which was released Tuesday.

``One father told PHR how (Gadhafi) soldiers forced his two young children to sit on a military tank and threatened the family: 'You'll stay here, and if NATO attacks us, you'll die, too.'''

PHR obtained copies of military orders as evidence that Gadhafi ordered his troops to starve civilians in Misrata, while pillaging food caches and barring locals from receiving humanitarian aid.

Rape was also ``a weapon of war,'' Richard Sollom, the lead author of PHR's report, told the Associated Press on Monday. While he said no one has evidence to prove that rape was widespread, the fear of it certainly was, he said.

And it had deadly consequences in the form of ``honor killings'' of rape victims by their shamed family members.

``One witness reported that (Gadhafi) forces transformed an elementary school into a detention site where they reportedly raped women and girls as young as 14 years old,'' the PHR report said. It added that it had found no evidence to confirm or deny reports that Gadhafi troops and loyalists were issued Viagra-type drugs to sustain their systematic rapes.

The school where the rapes were said to have taken place was in Tomina, near Misrata, PHR said.

In at least one instance, PHR reported, three sisters -- ages 15, 17 and 18 -- were raped at Tomina, and their father subsequently slit their throats as an ``honor killing'' to lift the shame from his family.

PHR also noted that ``some in Tomina have stood up against this practice, including a well-known sheik who has publicly advocated for raped women and girls to be seen as brave and bringing honor to their families.''

Physicians for Human Rights only investigated the abuses committed by Gadhafi forces. The timing of their visit, and its focus on Misrata, meant that PHR was not in a position to comment on allegations of rights violations by the Libyan rebels or by NATO, the group said.

However, PHR urged the rebel National Transitional Council to enforce law and order, suppress vigilantism, and hold all right violators responsible and prevent them from occupying positions of power.

It said NATO should investigate any credible claims made against the allied force that supported the rebels, largely through thousands of bombing sorties.

PHR particularly raised the issue of medical neutrality in war time, accusing the Gadhafi forces of attacking hospitals, clinics and ambulances, and preventing doctors from reaching or treating injured civilians.

Last week, the New York-based Human Rights Watch said it had collected evidence that ``strongly suggests that Gadhafi government forces went on a spate of arbitrary killing as Tripoli was falling.''

Meanwhile, Amnesty International, which is based in London, also accused pro-Gadhafi guards of raping child detainees, but added that Libyan rebels are abusing children and holding migrant workers as prisoners.

All three major human rights groups have called on both sides to respect prisoners -- and beyond that, to build a post-Gadhafi Libya.

``Individual perpetrators need to be brought to justice and held to account for their crimes,'' Sollom said. ``And as we've seen historically in places like South Africa and Bosnia and Rwanda, it's a cathartic experience for the country, and a necessary one, to move forward.''

 

<한글기사>


카다피군 조직적인 살인•성폭행 


무아마르 카다피 리비아 국가원수의  친위 부대가 리비아 제3의 도시인 미스라타에서 민간인을 대상으로 살인과 고문 등  광범 위한 전쟁범죄를 저질렀다는 미국 인권단체의 주장이 제기됐다.

미국 보스턴에 본부를 둔 '인권을 위한 의사회(PHR)'는 30일 미스라타 주민들과 지난 6월 진행한 인터뷰를 바탕으로 '전쟁범죄의 목격자: 리비아 미스라타에서의 증 거'라는 보고서를 발표하고 이같이 밝혔다.

반군과 3달간 격전을 벌이다 지난 5월 미스라타를 빼앗긴 카다피군은 이 기간에

나토(북대서양조약기구) 공격을 저지하기 위해 어린아이를 '인간방패'로 이용하는 등 각종 인권침해를 자행했다고 보고서는 전했다.

보고서는 "카다피군이 107명의 민간인을 붙잡아 나토 공격에 대응하는 인간방패 로 썼다는 목격자 4명의 진술이 있었다"며 "한 남성은 카다피군이 그의 두 아이를 탱크 위에 올려놓고 위협했다는 증언을 했다"고 밝혔다.

PHR의 리처드 솔롬 부국장은 성폭행 또한 '전쟁의 무기'로 사용됐으며 이는  명 예살인을 불러왔다고 말했다.

일례로 각각 15세, 17세, 18세인 세 자매가 미스라타 인근의 톰니아에서 카다피 군에게 성폭행당했으며, 소녀들의 아버지는 가문의 명예가 더럽혀졌다며 이들을  살 해했다고 보고서는 전했다. 

"한 목격자는 카다피군이 초등학교를 수용소를 변경해 여성들과 14세 밖에 안된 어린 소녀들을 강간했다고 증언했다"고 보고서는 주장했다. 또한 가다피군 병사들과 충성파들이 조직적 강간을 계속하기 위해서 비아그라 타입의 약을 먹었다는 주장도 있었으며 증거를 발견하지는 못햇다"고 덧붙였다.  

솔롬 부국장은 카다피군이 '조직적이고 광범위하게' 민간인에 대한 범죄를 저질 렀다며, 인구 40~50만인 미스라타에 연료와 물자 공급을 끊으라고 명령한 정부 문서 를 그 예로 들었다.

PHR은 또 병원과 구급차를 공격하고 의사들의 진료를 방해하는 등 카다피군이 분쟁 지역에서도 지켜져야 하는 의료 중립성(medical neutrality)을 무시한 데 대해 서도 문제를 제기했다.

이들은 카다피군이 병원에 로켓포를 발사해 인큐베이터 등이 놓인 신생아실이 폭격당한 영상을 공개하기도 했다.

PHR은 '포스트 카다피' 시대를 맞은 리비아가 과거의 문제와 정면 대응해야  하 며, 이를 위해서는 국가과도위원회(NTC)가 전쟁범죄를 저지른 이들을 기소하는 절차 를 밟아야 한다고 주장했다.

솔롬 부국장은 전쟁범죄자의 처벌은 "남아프리카 공화국, 보스니아, 르완다  등 의 선례로 미뤄봤을 때, 한 국가에 카타르시스적인 경험이 될 수 있다"며 "일보  전 진하기 위해 꼭 필요한 일"이라고 덧붙였다.

 

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