Guantanamo detainee compensation: Amnesty response

Reacting to news reports that the UK government has agreed to pay compensation to a number of UK citizens and residents who were detained at Guantanamo Bay, Amnesty International’s Director of Europe and Central Asia Programme Nicola Duckworth said:

"Financial compensation can be an important part of the right to remedy and reparation for victims of grave human rights violations. However, it remains only one part.

“The need for full and public disclosure of the truth about serious human rights violations and the duty of states to hold those responsible to account remain essential and must not be swept aside.

“To date these rights have been obstructed by persistent efforts on the part of the UK government to prevent disclosure of evidence relevant to these allegations, during court proceedings and elsewhere.

“Amnesty International takes no position on the appropriateness of the particular payments announced in these cases. However, in any event, we continue to believe that a human rights compliant commission of inquiry is needed to establish the truth about what happened."