United Nations to USA: Close Guantanamo Prison

GENEVA [May 29, 2006]-- According to Philippe LeBlanc, OP, the Permanent Delegate of the Order at the UN in Geneva, action by North American Dominican justice promoters and others would assist in bringing an end to human rights violations of human rights in the Guatanamo Bay Detention Centre.

Inspite of the fact that the United States ratified the UN Convention against Torture and is therefore obligated to take effective [measures] to prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction, the United States continues to hold prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba without due process of law. The UN has called on the Bush Administration to close the prison.

The United Nations Human Rights Council, in concluding its three week session called on the United States to cease to detain any person at Guantánamo Bay and that it close that detention facility, permit access by the detainees to judicial process or release them as soon as possible, ensuring that they were not returned to any State where they could face a real risk of being tortured.

A recent uprising of inmates at the prison magnified the situation and renews calls for the United States to meet its obligation under international agreements to stop holding prisoners without charges, trials or access to lawyers.

LeBlanc further reported on the United Nations statement:

The US government has ratified the UN Convention against Torture and is therefore obligated to present regular reports to the the UN Committee Against Torture, outlining the progress it has made in implementing its international obligations under the Convention. Furthermore, by ratifying the UN Convention, the US has undertaken the obligation to take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction. In Article one of the UN Convention, torture means “any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing the person or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.”

The UN Committee Against Torture also urged the United States to register all persons it detained in any territory under its jurisdiction to prevent acts of torture. In that regard, the Committee was concerned by allegations that the State party had established secret detention facilities, which were not accessible to the International Committee of the Red Cross. Detainees were deprived of fundamental legal safeguards, including an oversight mechanism in regard to their treatment and review procedures with respect to their detention. The Committee was also concerned by allegations that those detained in such facilities could be held for prolonged periods and faced torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. The Committee considered the "no comment" policy of the State party regarding the existence of such secret detention facilities, as well as on its intelligence activities, to be regrettable. In addition, the United States should cease to detain any person at Guantánamo Bay and close that detention facility. It should permit access by the detainees to judicial process or release them as soon as possible, ensuring that they were not returned to any State where they could face a real risk of being tortured.

In a previous statement issued on 21 February 2006, the North American Dominican Justice Promoters had already urged the United States Government to comply with its international obligations and to act on the recommendations of the another UN report on the Situation of detainees in Guantánamo Bay (February 2006); especially the recommendation to close immediately the detention centre in Guantánamo Bay and bring all detainees before an independent and competent tribunal or release them. The February 2006 report was published after an 18-month joint study by independent experts on the situation of detainees in Guantánamo Bay. by five independent investigators of the UN Commission on Human Rights.

Related news link:

CNN: Gitmo inmates attack guards stopping a suicide

CNN: Report: Detainee abuse claims not investigated in full

North American Dominican Justice Promoters had already urged the United States Government to comply with its international obligations and to act on the recommendations of the another UN report on the Situation of detainees in Guantánamo Bay (February 2006)

Philippe LeBlanc, OP, the Permanent Delegate of the Order at the UN in Geneva, said that any action on the part of North American Dominican justice promoters and others to press the US administration to comply with its international obligations especially under the UN Convention Against Torture would assist in bringing an end to the serious situation of violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the Guatanamo Bay Detention Centre.