22 December 2008
The Pentagon is working on a plan to close the Guantánamo Bay detention centre, according to a US Department of Defense official. The plan would be available to President-elect Barack Obama after he takes office on 20 January.
Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters on Thursday
that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has asked his staff to come up
with a proposal on how to close the camp, so that the Secretary “can be
prepared to assist the President-elect should he wish to address this
very early in his tenure”.
Pressed for more detail, the press secretary reminded reporters that
Secretary Gates had previously stated that “he believes one of the
requirements of closure is… legislation that will provide some sort of
comprehensive framework for the detention of this population outside of
the confines of Gitmo.”
In an interview with Time Magazine just published, President-elect
Obama stated that among the benchmarks against which his first two
years in office will be judged will be whether the Guantánamo detention
facility has been closed down “in a responsible way”.
Amnesty International has welcomed the prioritization being given to
this issue, but said that no executive or legislative measures are
taken that would replace one form of unlawfulness with another. The
organization has long said that the closure of Guantánamo must not be
achieved by transferring human rights violations to other locations,
including inside the USA.
"President-elect Obama’s statement that he will make the closure of the
Guantánamo facility a measure of the success of his presidency is very
welcome," said Kerrie Howard
Deputy Director of Amnesty International's Americas Program. "The
detainees should either be promptly charged for trials in federal court
or released with full protections against further human rights
violations.
"Guantánamo is part of a wider problem, and closing the facility must
mark a clean break with the range of unlawful detention policies and
practices adopted by the USA in the ‘war on terror’," added Kerrie
Howard. "All illegal detentions and all torture and other ill-treatment
must be ended, with accountability for human rights violations ensured."
Read More
President-elect Obama recommits to closing Guantánamo and ending torture (News, 18 November 2008)
President-elect Obama: 100 days to demonstrate commitment to human rights (News, 5 November 2008)
Counter Terror with Justice: A human rights challenge for the next US president (Checklist, 5 November 2008)
Take Action: Call on President-elect Barack Obama to demonstrate a commitment to human rights in his first 100 days in office.
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