FOCUS | US Stonewalls UN on Gitmo Torture

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FOCUS | US Stonewalls UN on Gitmo Torture

Fri, 24 Jun 2005 11:33:41 -0700

 

 

 

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/062405X.shtml

 

 

 

UN Experts Cite Guantanamo Torture Reports

By Bradley S. Klapper

The Associated Press

 

Thursday 23 June 2005

 

Geneva - UN human rights investigators, citing " persistent and

credible " reports of torture at the US base in Guantanamo Bay, urged

the United States on Thursday to allow them to check conditions there.

 

The failure of the United States to respond to requests since

early 2002 is leading the experts to conclude Washington has something

to hide at the Cuban base, said Manfred Nowak, a specialist on torture

and a professor of human rights law in Vienna, Austria.

 

" At a certain point, you have to take well-founded allegations as

proven in the absence of a clear explanation by the government, " Nowak

said.

 

However, he added: " We are not making a judgment if torture or

treatment under degrading conditions has taken place. "

 

Washington's response is delayed because the US review process is

" thorough and independent " and involves the Bush administration,

Congress and the judicial system, said Brooks Robinson, spokeswoman

for the US mission to UN offices in Geneva.

 

" The main point is that their request is being addressed and

discussed and reviewed in the United States, " Robinson told The

Associated Press. " That process is underway. "

 

But one investigator, Algerian magistrate Leila Zerrougui, said:

" The time is up. We have to act now. If not, we won't have any

credibility left. "

 

For more than three years, UN investigators have made numerous

requests to visit foreign terror suspects at the US Naval base in Cuba

and at US facilities in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, the four

independent specialists told reporters.

 

" We deeply regret that the government of the United States has

still not invited us to visit those persons arrested, detained or

tried on grounds of alleged terrorism or other violations, " the

experts said.

 

The four, who report to UN bodies on different human rights

issues, are appointed to their three-year terms by the 53-nation UN

Human Rights Commission, the global body's top rights watchdog. They

are unpaid for their work, although their expenses are paid.

 

The United States has criticized the commission because its

members include countries with tyrannical governments and poor human

rights records, but the experts operate autonomously, often

reproaching their own countries and others in the commission.

 

The four cited " information, from reliable sources, of serious

allegations of torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of

detainees, arbitrary detention, violations of their right to health

and their due process rights.

 

" Many of these allegations have come to light through declassified

(US) government documents, " the statement said.

 

US officials have consistently denied violating the principle of

humane treatment of detainees in the war on terror, and Robinson noted

that American policy " prohibits and condemns torture. "

 

" American personnel are required to follow this policy and

applicable law, " she said. " Credible allegations of illegal conduct by

US personnel are taken seriously and investigated. "

 

The specialists said they had yet to hear back from Washington on

their latest request - made a year ago and renewed in mid-April - to

visit the detention facility.

 

In an April meeting, US officials refused to guarantee the right

to speak to detainees in private - an " absolute precondition " for such

a visit, Nowak said.

 

Paul Hunt, a law professor from New Zealand who monitors physical

and mental health of detainees, said he wanted to investigate

" persistent and credible reports " of alleged violations in person.

 

" Reportedly medical staff have assisted in the design of

interrogation strategies, including sleep deprivation and other

coercive interrogation methods, " Hunt said.

 

The experts said they decided to express their misgivings because

" the lack of a definitive answer despite repeated requests suggests

that the United States is not willing to cooperate with the United

Nations human rights machinery on this issue. "

 

" We are all worried about this situation, " said Argentinian jurist

Leandro Despouy, specialist on the independence of judges and lawyers.

 

US officials so far have allowed only the International Committee

of the Red Cross to visit detainees at Guantanamo, which started being

used as a detention center for terror suspects allegedly linked to the

Taliban and al-Qaida after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late

2001.

 

The ICRC keeps its findings confidential, reporting them solely to

the detaining power, although some of the reports have been leaked by

what the ICRC terms third parties.

 

The UN experts would be expected to make a public report.

 

Nowak worked in the 1990s as UN-appointed expert on missing

persons in the former Yugoslavia. He also has served as a judge at the

Human Rights Chamber for Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo.

 

As a UN expert on arbitrary detention, Zerrougui has previously

criticized China for its policies in Tibet, Nepal for its treatment of

journalists and others, and Russia for its anti-terrorism measures.

 

Hunt has been in his post since 2002. Before that, he reported to

the UN as a special expert on human rights and poverty issues.

 

Despouy is a former Argentinian ambassador to the UN in Geneva who

chaired the Human Rights Commission in 2001. He also served as a UN

expert on extreme poverty in the 1990s.

 

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