Source: Libya S.O.S.

Libya's investment bank used $33 billion, without interest rates, to build the 'Great Man-Made River', the "eighth wonder of the world". It is, or was, 3,750 kilometers long with three parallel pipelines running oil, gas and water from deep in the Saharan desert up to Libya's cities in the north of the country, over an area roughly the size of Western Europe. The River project supplied 70% of the Libyan people (4.5 of its 6 million population) with clean drinking water from enormous aquifers discovered under the sands in the 1980s.

Here are some facts and figures to give you an idea of sheer scale of this project. (Source: official website of the Great Man-Made River Authority, h/t Libya S.O.S.)

• Some half a million concrete cylinder pipes, some wide enough to drive articulated trucks through, were made up until the point NATO (the US) blew up Libya's infrastructure.
• Transporting these enormous structures across the sands was ongoing until 19 March. Work went on day and night, all year long, for decades. The accumulative distance traveled by the transporters is apparently equivalent to the sun and back.
• Before all this even began, over 3,700 km of roads had to be constructed alongside the gigantic pipe line trenches to enable the heavy trucks to deliver pipe sections to the installation sites.
• Volume of trench excavation: 250 million cubic meters.
• The amount of aggregate materials used in the project: 30,000,000 tonnes, enough to build 20 pyramids the size of the great pyramid of Khoufu.
• Total weight of cement used: 7 million tonnes.
• Total length of pre-stressing wire: 6 million kilometers; this would circle the Earth 280 times.

Introduction

2. On 21 June 2010, the Human Rights Council selected the following group of rapporteurs (troika) to facilitate the review of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya: Argentina, Norway {which subsequently joined in the bombing} and Senegal. [...]

Summary of the proceedings of the review process

5. During the interactive dialogue, statements were made by 46 delegations. A number of delegations commended the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya for the preparation and presentation of its national report, noting the broad consultation process with stakeholders in the preparation phase. Several delegations also noted with appreciation the country's commitment to upholding human rights on the ground. [...]

7. The delegation noted that the national report had been prepared in a transparent and consultative manner. A national committee had been established with the participation of representatives from all relevant sectors. Consultations with civil society organizations and relevant stakeholders had also been held.

8. The Libyan Arab Jamahiriya believed that the promotion and protection of human rights was one of the most important factors for the progress and development of the people. The first declaration of the Great Alfateh Revolution in 1969 had called for equality and non-discrimination, and in 1977 the People's Authority had been declared. In 1988, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya had issued the Great Green Document on Human Rights, which provided that all human beings were born free and equal, with no difference between men and women. In 1991, Law No. 20 on Strengthening Freedoms had also been enacted. The Libyan Arab Jamahiriya was party to most human rights treaties and the protocols thereto, and those instruments took precedence over national laws and could be directly applied by the courts once they had been ratified. [...]

Gaddafi's award-winning blueprint for a people's revolution where human rights are guaranteed and which he told Al Jazeera he hoped would become "a model for the world", now on the scrapheap of history following the annihilation of peaceful Libya by US-led megalomaniacs.

9. On 30 June 2010, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya had also invited Amnesty International to visit the country to see for itself that the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya had never forcibly evicted or discriminated against any member of the Toubou tribe.

10. The delegation noted that all rights and freedoms were contained in a coherent, consolidated legal framework. The legal guarantees formed the basis for protection of the basic rights of the people. Further, abuses that might occur were dealt with by the judiciary, and the perpetrators were brought before justice. The judiciary safeguarded the rights of individuals and was assisted by other entities, most importantly the Office of the Public Prosecutor. A National Human Rights Commission, with a mandate based on the Paris Principles, had also been established, in 2007. The aforementioned entities were complemented by newly established mechanisms, such as civil society organizations established under Law No. 19 of 2001.

11. Protection of human rights was guaranteed in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya; this included not only political rights, but also economic, social and cultural rights. {Things which are distinctly lacking in the US legal code, for example.} The Libyan Arab Jamahiriya referred to its pioneering experience in the field of wealth distribution and labour rights.

12. The delegation indicated that women were highly regarded in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, and their rights were guaranteed by all laws and legislation. Discriminatory laws had been revoked. Libyan women occupied prominent positions in the public sector, the judicial system, the public prosecutor's office, the police and the military. Libyan legislation also guaranteed children their rights, and provided for special care for children with special needs, the elderly and persons with disabilities. [...]

14. The Libyan Arab Jamahiriya believed that human rights education was a duty that should be fulfilled in the school system and the family system and by relevant civil society organizations. [...]

16. The Libyan Arab Jamahiriya noted that laws safeguarded freedom of expression through principles enshrined in the Great Green Document. Article 5 promoted the right of expression of every person. This right had been enshrined in the Code on the Promotion of Freedom, which, in its article 8, stated that "each citizen has the right to express his opinions and ideas openly in People's Congresses and in all mass media, no citizen is questioned on the exercise of this right unless this has been abused in a way that prejudices the People's Authority or is used for personal interest, and it is prohibited to advocate ideas and opinions in a clandestine manner or to seek to disseminate them through force, temptation or terrorism". Additionally, it was a basic law with which all contradictory or conflicting legislation should be compatible and was to be amended accordingly. In the context of freedom of expression, each citizen, male or female, who had reached the age of 18 was entitled to membership in the Basic People's Congresses and, by virtue of that membership, had the right to express his or her opinion on any matter. Further, in view of the growth of information networks, restrictions imposed on freedom of expression had become an obsolete issue and such freedom could be prevented. With regarding to revoking legislation that restricted freedom of expression, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya indicated that such legislation does not exist and that Libyan basic law explicitly mentioned freedom of expression.

17. Freedom of religion was also guaranteed, in accordance with basic laws and the Green Document, which stipulated that religion was a private spiritual and individual value and constituted a direct relationship with the Creator (God).

18. Regarding measures taken to prevent torture and ill treatment in detention centres or prisons, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya indicated that the practice of torture and ill treatment was forbidden in article 434 of the Penal Code, which stated that public officials who had ordered the torture of a person or had committed an act of torture were sentenced to 3 to 10 years' imprisonment. Article 17 of the Promotion of Freedom Act stipulated that society forbade penalties that undermined the dignity of a person and inflicted physical harm or material injury. The legislation adequately addressed this issue; therefore, new measures were unnecessary in this context.

19. People who had been harmed could file a complaint with the general prosecutor. The public prosecutor's office periodically inspected police and prison centres during unannounced visits. From 1 January 2009 until 30 June 2010, the prosecutor had dealt with 7 cases involving torture and 66 cases involving the withholding of liberty. This showed that these were individual cases and that the issue did not constitute a national phenomenon. {Only seven cases?! Compare and contrast with NATO countries' active participation in the US policy of 'extraordinary rendition' (torture) of innocents denounced on hearsay.} [...]

22. Concerning the question of the presence of independent national human rights institutions, numerous human rights organizations had been established under Act No. 19/2001, including, most notably, the Wa'itasimo foundation, the Kadafi International Charity and the Development Foundation. [...]

25. With regard to the release of all political prisoners, those who had abandoned the use of terrorist acts had been released. [Guantanamo Bay and 'indefinite detention', anyone?] [...]

28. Regarding the steps taken to implement the 2009 recommendations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya was scheduled to provide responses to the observations in the periodic report due in 2014. Some steps had been taken already, such as the establishment of a joint committee, including the Secretariat of Women Affairs of the General People's Congress, the National Planning Council and the General People's Committee for Social Affairs, to develop a working strategy for promoting the political, economic and social empowerment of women. An agreement had been reached between the representative of the United Nations Development Programme in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and the Women's Affairs Secretariat with a view to cooperation with the United Nations country team. [...]

53. On the initiative to distribute wealth to low-income families, those programmes were related to distributing money through investments for every needy family. Over the past four years, 229,595 families had benefited from the programme. [...]

54. Regarding services for persons with special needs, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya indicated that such persons received monthly allowances and were exempt from all fees and taxes, including for electricity, water and transportation. They also had residences and housing units, medical supplies, vehicles especially designed for them, and paid domestic help and home services.

55. The delegation reaffirmed that the judiciary system in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya was independent. [...]