Guantánamo has come to symbolise the US government’s disregard for international law in its treatment of detainees in its “war on terror”. The Guantánamo detention facility has been just one part of a wider system of indefinite and secret detentions, enforced disappearance, renditions and torture and other ill-treatment.
President-elect Barack Obama has said that he will close Guantánamo. Amnesty International is calling for him to make it one of his priorities after taking office.
SEVEN YEARS OF DETENTION WITHOUT CHARGE
The detention camp at Guantánamo casts a dark shadow on the USA’s human rights record. The camp has become synonymous with violations of human rights and a symbol of government abandoning its international legal obligations.
Nearly 800 people have been held at Guantánamo since 11 January 2002; the majority without charge or prospect of a fair trial, no or limited access to lawyers, and no visits from their families.
In January 2009 approximately 250 continue to languish there, most in cruel, inhuman and degrading conditions. About two dozen have been charged for unfair trials by military commissions with at least six of them facing the possibility of a death sentence.
TIP OF THE ICEBERG
Guantánamo has been the visible – though far from transparent - tip of an iceberg of indefinite and secret detentions, rendition and torture and other ill-treatment.
The unlawful CIA rendition programme has secretly transferred suspects into the custody of other states where torture is known to accompany interrogation.
Numerous individuals allegedly tortured in other countries were subsequently transferred to Guantánamo.
The rendition programme has delivered people to other US run prisons, including clandestine CIA-run detention facilities around the world. These secret centres have been reported in Afghanistan, the British Indian Ocean territory of Diego Garcia, Jordan, Pakistan, Thailand and Eastern Europe.
President Bush confirmed the existence of the CIA programme on 6 September 2006, when he announced the transfer of 14 detainees from secret custody to Guantánamo. At least two other men have been transferred from CIA custody to Guantánamo since then.
WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN?
The US government must:
* close Guantánamo in a transparent manner which fully respects the rights of detainees;
* immediately abandon military commission trials;
* release detainees at Guantánamo unless they are to be charged and tried in ordinary civilian courts in the USA;
* end secret detention and bring all detentions into full compliance with international law;
* establish an independent commission of inquiry into all aspects of US detentions in its “war on terror”.
Closing Guantánamo must not be an excuse to transfer human rights violations elsewhere. It is the primary responsibility of the US government to find solutions for all those held at Guantánamo, as it was the US government that brought detainees to the detention facility and is holding them there unlawfully.
Any detainees whom the government does not intend to promptly charge for trial in civilian court, and who cannot be safely returned to their own countries, should be offered the opportunity to be released into the USA.
Role of other governments in closing Guantánamo
Around 50 of the detainees held at Guantánamo cannot lawfully be sent back to their countries of origin because they would face a real risk of torture or other serious human rights violations.
There are many countries that could offer safe alternatives to the detainees who cannot be returned to their countries:
* States could offer individuals international protection by accepting them under some form of humanitarian or other immigration status;
* Governments should engage with US authorities with a view to identifying solutions for the safe return of particular detainees and their resettlement in a country where they will not be tortured, executed or face other serious human rights violations.
These governments can and should take this vital step towards making the closure of Guantánamo a reality.
Explore this issue in greater detail:
USA: Counter Terror with Justice: A checklist for the next US President (5 November 2008)
USA: Illegal US detentions Focus Sheet: Guantánamo Symbol of Wider Injustice (Information sheet, January 2008)
USA: International Protection for Guantánamo’s Victims (Information sheet, 1 September 2008)
USA: Cruel and Inhuman: Conditions of isolation for detainees at Guantánamo Bay (Report, 5 April 2005)
USA: Guantánamo: Lives torn apart: The impact of indefinite detention on detainees and their families (Report, 6 February 2006)
USA: Guantanamo - an icon of lawlessness (Report, 6 January 2005)
Read the key documents on illegal US detention and other documents on Guantánamo
External links
Center for Constitutional Rights: Illegal detentions and Guantánamo
Close Guantánamo campaign, American Civil Liberties Union