Arab Parliament demands protection of Libya's frozen funds in UK

The Arab Parliament called on, Wednesday, the United Nations and the UN Security Council to protect Libya’s frozen funds and assets in the UK.

This came in a statement issued at the end of the Arab Parliament’s meeting session in Cairo which discussed the situation in the region, especially the Libyan crisis.

The statement called on the United Nations, the UN Security Council and its sanctions committee to abide by their pledges to protect Libya’s frozen funds and assets abroad, including those frozen in the UK.

MPs in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom have recently submitted a request to discuss a bill obliging Libya to pay financial compensation to British families’ victims of the Irish Republican Army’s attacks, as the UK accuses the former Libyan regime of supporting it in the 1980s.

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Last July, the Arab Parliament announced its rejection of the bill, saying it “lacks legal authority and is a flagrant violation of the sovereignty of a member state of the United Nations.”

The Arab Parliament also called the UK to comply with the UN Security Council resolution of 2011 on the freezing of Libyan funds, considering it “an international binding resolution to all relevant countries, including the UK.”

Since 2011, Libya has been subject to international sanctions by the Security Council, including a ban on arms exports and the freezing of Libyan assets and bank accounts abroad.

The Arab Parliament said that “these Libyan funds have been frozen to be preserved and not to be exploited against the Libyan people’s will. They have nothing to do with compensation for acts of violence. The exploitation of these funds is a violation of Libyan sovereignty and UN resolutions.”

In December 2016, Deputy Chairman of the Presidential Council of the Government of National Accord, Ahmed Maiteeq, said that the frozen Libyan funds abroad amounted to $ 67 billion.