[Peace-discuss] UN human rights investigators and Guantanamo

[ppatton at uiuc.edu]

U.N. Officials Seek Guantanamo Bay Visit

By BRADLEY S. KLAPPER, Associated Press Writer Thu Jun 23,
3:28 PM ET

GENEVA - U.N. human rights investigators, citing "persistent
and credible" reports of torture at the U.S. 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 U.S. review
process is "thorough and independent" and involves the Bush
administration, Congress and the judicial system, said Brooks
Robinson, spokeswoman for the U.S. mission to U.N. 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, U.N. investigators have made
numerous requests to visit foreign terror suspects at the U.S.
Naval base in Cuba and at U.S. 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 U.N. bodies on different human rights
issues, 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.

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 (U.S.) government documents," the statement said.

U.S. 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 U.S. 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, U.S. 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.

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 terms third parties.

The U.N. experts would be expected to make a public report.

Nowak worked in the 1990s as U.N.-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 U.N. 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 U.N. as a special expert on human rights and poverty
issues.

Despouy is a former Argentinian ambassador to the U.N. in
Geneva who chaired the Human Rights Commission in 2001. He
also served as a U.N. expert on extreme poverty in the 1990s.

___ 
__________________________________________________________________
Dr. Paul Patton
Research Scientist
Beckman Institute  Rm 3027  405 N. Mathews St.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign  Urbana, Illinois 61801
work phone: (217)-265-0795   fax: (217)-244-5180
home phone: (217)-344-5812
homepage: http://netfiles.uiuc.edu/ppatton/www/index.html

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.  It is the
source of all true art and science."
-Albert Einstein
_________________________________________________________________