After twenty years of unsuccessful requests, the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counterterrorism was able to visit the American prison in February.
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Posted on 6/27/2023 9:21 AM Updated on 6/27/2023 10:22 AM
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Human rights activists demand the closure of the Guantánamo prison during a demonstration in front of Congress in Washington (USA) on April 5, 2023. (CELAL GUNES / ANADOLU AGENCY / AFP)
Almost constant surveillance, restricted access to family, isolation… The treatment of the last 30 Guantanamo detainees was “cruel, inhuman and degrading”, denounced a UN expert after the first visit of this kind to the American military prison. After two decades of unsuccessful requests, the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism, Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, was finally granted authorization to conduct the visit in February.
In a report published Monday, June 26, she describes “forced removals from cells, excessive use of restraints,” “structural health deficiencies, inadequate access to families,” and “arbitrary detentions fueled by the prosecution of violations of the right to justice.” Marked are”. trial”.
“The aggregate of all these practices and negligence (…) have a particularly cumulative aggravating impact on the dignity, freedoms and fundamental rights of each individual prisoner.”
Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism
at a press conference
While the UN expert noted “significant improvements” at the detention facility, she also believed that “the closure of this facility remains a priority”. She also hailed “the openness and willingness of the United States to lead by example by allowing this visit.”
The United States expresses its “disunity”.
In a letter accompanying the report, the United States expressed “disagreement” with “many allegations” about a document it said “does not reflect the official position of the United Nations.” “We have granted the Special Rapporteur unprecedented access” and are “confident that detention conditions at Guantanamo are humane,” wrote the US ambassador to the Human Rights Council. She clarified that the Biden administration is “actively working to find suitable locations for the remaining transferable inmates.”
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