U.N. human rights investigators say they have “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,” reports The Guardian:
“The time is up,” one investigator said.
The four independent specialists told reporters that U.N. experts had made numerous requests since early 2002 to check on the conditions of terror suspects at the U.S. Naval base in Cuba, as well as at U.S. facilities in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
You’ll recall my April 25 story, “U.N. Rights Monitor Ousted Under U.S. Pressure,” after the ouster of Cherif Bassiouni, a Distinguished Research Professor of Law at DePaul’s law school and President of the Int’l Human Rights Law Institute. Bassiouni spent a year in Afghanistan documenting [PDF] human rights violations by Afghanis against other Afghanis, and U.S. military/civilian torture and murder of Afghani detainees. Among Prof. Bassiouni’s many findings is this: “The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, created in 2002 during the early stages of the transition to Afghan self-governance, has collected a total of 120 reports of abuse by coalition forces; 50 of them were made just since last May.” U.S. abuse is continuing, despite all denials.
A key factor in the U.N. report: Unlike Red Cross (ICRC) findings, the U.N. report will be public … more below:
More from the story in The Guardian:
“At a certain point, you have to take well-founded allegations as proven in the absence of a clear explanation by the government,” he said, though he also noted: “We are not making a judgment if torture or treatment under degrading conditions has taken place.”
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The four experts are appointed to their three-year terms by the 53-nation U.N. Human Rights Commission, the global body’s top rights watchdog. They are unpaid for their work, although their expenses are paid.
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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, U.S. officials refused to guarantee the right to speak to detainees in private – an “absolute precondition” for such a visit, Nowak said.
“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 time is up. We have to act now,” said Leila Zerrougui, an Algerian magistrate who reports on arbitrary detention. “If not, we won’t have any credibility left.”
Paul Hunt, a law professor from New Zealand who monitors physical and mental health, said he wanted to investigate in person “persistent and credible reports” of alleged violations.
“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.
U.S. 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 U.S.-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 says were third parties.
The U.N. experts would be expected to make a public report.