UN-Truth

The UN’s independent investigator on human rights in the fight against terrorism, Martin Scheinin, said in a report released Monday to the UNGA in NY that he’s concerned about U.S. detention practices, military courts and interrogation techniques. He urged the U.S. government to end the CIA practice of extraordinary rendition, in which terrorism suspects are taken to foreign countries for interrogation”, the Associated Press reported.

The AP added that Scheinin said he was also concerned about what he termed ‘enhanced interrogation techniques reportedly used by the CIA’, saying that under international law ‘there are no circumstances in which cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment may be justified’.”

The AP story said that “In the report, Scheinin called for the abolition of the military commissions which were established in 2001 by President and declared unlawful by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2006 because they were not authorized by Congress. Congress responded by passing the Military Commissions Act of 2006. Scheinin said the offenses in the 2006 law — including terrorism, wrongfully aiding the enemy, spying and conspiracy — ‘go beyond offenses under the laws of war’. He argued that the offense did not apply at the time of the alleged acts by detainees, and maintained that the commissions are applying criminal law retroactively in violation of international law. Due to various concerns, Scheinin recommended the abolition of the commissions. ‘Wherever possible, ordinary civilian courts should be used to try terrorist suspects’, he said [Nevertheless] he welcomed the recent invitation by the U.S. government to Guantanamo to observe proceedings before military commissions. Scheinin called on the U.S. to lift restrictions that prohibit Guantanamo Bay detainees to seek “full judicial review of their combatant status.” The U.S. prohibition violates the International Covenant’s prohibitions on arbitrary detention, the right to a judicial review which could grant freedom, and the right to a fair trial within a reasonable time, he said. He urged “determined action” to move toward Bush’s goal of closing Guantanamo. Scheinin said he has been advised that up to 80 detainees will be tried by military commissions, and that the U.S. wants to return the rest to their countries of origin or to a third country. He said the U.S. and the U.N. should work together to resettle detainees in accord with international law”.
The AP report on the UN special rapporteur who is calling for the closure of the Guantanamo detention center is posted here.

The AP has also reported, meanwhile, that the UN General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly to urge the US to end its 46-year-old trade embargo against Cuba; “The resolution passed with 184 member states in favor, four against, and one abstention … “Cuba’s Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque foreign minister accused the U.S. of stepping up its ‘brutal economic war’ against his country… ‘The blockade had never been enforced with such viciousness as over the last year’, Perez Roque told the assembly, accusing President Bush’s administration of adopting ‘new measures bordering on madness and fanaticism’ “.   The AP report on the UNGA resolution calling for a lifting of the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba is here.

Filed under: Guantanamo, Human Rights, Sanctions, Torture