A/HRC/30/16 8. The negative legacy of the policies and practices of the dictatorship, which had lasted for more than four decades, had prevented the Libyan people from enjoying their assets and economic resources or building solid State institutions in a range of areas, including education, health and housing. That situation had affected wide sections of the Libyan people in the enjoyment of their economic, social and cultural rights. 9. At the level of civil and political rights, the former regime had used repressive methods, eliminated political dissidents, suppressed freedom of opinion, stifled political pluralism and replaced the concept of citizenship with that of allegiance to the regime. In the so-called Abu Salim Prison massacre of 1996, over 1,270 prisoners had been killed. The memory of the massacre had played a significant part in precipitating the 17 February 2011 revolution. An association of families of victims of the massacre had organized a peaceful demonstration in Benghazi. The forces of the regime had reacted brutally, committing war crimes, crimes against humanity and grave human rights violations. The international community had reacted by adopting Security Council resolution 1970 (2011), which had referred the situation in Libya to the International Criminal Court and Security Council resolution 1973 (2011), which had established a no-fly zone and provided for the protection of civilians in the light of the crimes and repression of the Qadhafi regime forces. The confrontation between regime forces and the revolutionaries, backed by international coalition forces, had continued until liberation had been declared on 23 October 2011. 10. In March 2012, Libya extended a standing invitation to the special procedures. It agreed to allow the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the Working Group on Enforced Disappearances to visit the country; however, visits had not yet taken place. Libya had also invited the High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit the country. 11. As for the most prominent developments in the field of human rights, the Deputy Minister stated that chapter I, article 2 of the Constitutional Declaration of 3 August 2011 provided that the State shall work to establish a civilian, democratic political system based on political pluralism, with several political parties, in order to ensure the peaceful transfer of power. 12. Chapter II addressed the question of civil rights and liberties. Article 1 guaranteed the linguistic and cultural rights of all components of Libyan society, including the Amazigh, Toubou and Touareg. Under article 7, the State was obliged to safeguard human rights and basic freedoms and to work to adopt new legislation guaranteeing such rights and freedoms. Article 5 guaranteed the protection of mothers, children and older persons and the care of children, younger persons and persons with special needs. 13. The Constitution Drafting Assembly had begun its work on 21 April 2014 and in December 24 presented some proposals for discussions by specialists, stakeholders and representatives of civil society, whose views would be taken into consideration at the redrafting stage. 14. The National Council for Civil Liberties and Human Rights had been established pursuant to Law No. 5 (2011) on the basis of the Paris Principles. The aim of the Council was to preserve, strengthen and defend civil rights, and monitor and document violations of those rights, and support and encourage civil society organizations. 15. The Civil Society Commission had also been established by Decision No. 649 (2013). The Commission was responsible for registering civil society organizations and monitoring them to ensure that they carried out their work in accordance with the legislation in force. To date, the Commission had registered more than 3,000 such organizations. 16. On transitional justice and national reconciliation, the Deputy Minister mentioned the adoption of a number of laws and decisions, including Law No. 29 (2013) on 4