(28 Feb 2011) SHOTLIST
1. Wide of United Nations Building in Geneva with flags outside
2. Mid of flags
3. Close of United Nations sign
4. Wide of security at the gate
5. People arriving at the UN building
6. Wide of United Nations flags
7. Wide of meeting between US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd
8. Cutaway of Clinton
9. Cutaway of Rudd
10. Clinton talking
11. Wide of meeting
STORYLINE
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met with Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd on Monday, as foreign leaders converge in Geneva for a meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Firsts on the agenda at the 16th regular session of the Human Rights Council will be the ongoing violence in Libya.
Clinton will confer with foreign policy chiefs from Russia, the European Union and other global powers on how to convince the Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi to step down.
The Libyan regime appears determined to cling to power and crush opposition to Gadhafi's rule.
US President Barack Obama has branded Gadhafi an illegitimate ruler who must leave power immediately, while Clinton has kept up pressure for him to step down and told him to "call off the mercenaries" and other troops that remain loyal to him.
Rudd, who has just returned from Cairo after talks with his Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Aboul Gheit, reiterated on Sunday his country's condemnation of the use of violence in Libya by regime forces against anti-government protesters.
Rudd called on the Libyan regime to respect international law and refrain from violence against civilians or face criminal consequences.
Monday's meeting in Geneva comes after the UN Security Council voted 15-0 late on Saturday to impose an arms embargo and urged UN member countries to freeze the assets of Gadhafi, four of his sons and a daughter.
The council also backed a travel ban on the Gadhafi family and close associates, including leaders of the revolutionary committees accused of much of the violence against regime opponents.
Council members additionally agreed to refer the Gadhafi regime's deadly crackdown on people protesting his rule to a permanent war crimes tribunal, the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, for an investigation of possible crimes against humanity.
The ICC's Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo was instructed to report back to the council in two months on his investigation.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who had pushed the council to take urgent action, was due in Washington on Monday to discuss with Obama other possible measures that could be taken against the Libyan government.
The 192-member UN General Assembly will vote on Tuesday on a UN Human Rights Council recommendation to suspend Libya from the world organisation's top human rights body.
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