[JURIST] Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) [official website] assured world leaders on Friday that Libya will be a society of tolerance and respect for the rule of law. During a meeting [BBC report] in Paris chaired by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, NTC leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil [BBC profiles] vowed to administer elections and draft a new constitution for Libya within 18 months. Sarkozy said that the airstrikes in Libya would continue until ex-colonel Muammar Gaddafi [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] is caught by interim officials. Gaddafi has publicly announced his refusal to surrender. Leaders of the international community who helped oust Gaddafi have pledged economic and military support [Bloomberg report] to the new Libyan administration.

Earlier this week, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) [advocacy website] reported that Libyan troops used children as human shields to deter attacks [JURIST report] by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) [official website]. A team of PHR investigators conducted several weeks of interviews in Libya, shortly after Gaddafi and his loyalists were expelled from Misrata. Also this month, representatives from the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] were reportedly meeting [JURIST report] with Libyan rebels to discuss turning over the son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, to the court for prosecution, but it was later revealed that he had not been captured.