The Right of Individuals to Take Judicial Action Against International Persons: The Case of NATO's Intervention in Libya

Abstract

Right of Individuals to Take Judicial Action Against International Persons 163 2 The Libyan Case NATO and other state forces operating under its command 1 during the 2011 war in Libya have been accused of the killing of civilians and the destruction of civilian property, schools, hospitals and places of worship. According to several reports received by the UN Commission of Inquiry, in the first four months alone NATO's strikes against civilian targets have: resulted in the death of 500 civilians and 2,000 injured. The same reports stated that NATO had targeted schools, universities, mosques, and others civilian locations. According to the same sources, 56 schools and three universities were directly hit by these strikes. Furthermore, it is claimed that NATO airstrikes have resulted in the closure of 3204 schools, leaving 437, 787 students without access to education. 2 For example, in the village of Majer, NATO's bombardment killed 85 civilians including 32 women and 33 children. 3 Also, in a single day in September it was claimed that``NATO air strikes … killed a total of 354 people in the loyalist stronghold of Sirte''. 4 NATO did not investigate these claims but made some general statements that everything was done with the intent to avoid civilian casualties. This prompted a Senior Crisis Adviser at Amnesty International, Donatella Rovera to state that``they cannot now brush aside the deaths of scores of civilians with some vague statement of regret without properly investigating these deadly incidents''. 5 1 By 31 May these states were: