Press releases
Guantánamo: five years after Obama's closure promise camp is still a 'festering injustice'
‘Detainees at Guantánamo remain in limbo with their lives on hold for years on end’ - Erika Guevara Rosas
The US detention camp at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba is a “festering injustice” and a prime example of the USA’s double standards on human rights, Amnesty International said today, in the week that sees five years elapse since US President Barack Obama signed an executive order to close the detention facility within a year.
Amnesty has released a new briefing on the notorious detention centre and is calling for detainees to be given fair trials in ordinary civilian courts or for them to be released.
More than 12 years after the first detainees were brought to Guantánamo, strapped down in planes like cargo, more than 150 men are still held there, most of them held without charge or trial. A small number of detainees face trial under a “military commission” system which itself does not meet international fair trial standards. Of the almost 800 detainees who have been held at Guantánamo in total, less than 1% have been convicted by military commission - with the majority of these the result of pre-trial plea bargains.
Meanwhile, Amnesty is also calling on the US authorities to ensure independent and impartial investigations into all credible allegations of human rights violations carried out at Guantánamo and against detainees held elsewhere. The findings should be made public, and anyone responsible for crimes under international law brought to justice, regardless of their current or former level of office.
Amnesty International Americas Director Erika Guevara Rosas said:“Detainees at Guantánamo remain in limbo with their lives on hold for years on end. Many have suffered serious human rights violations, including enforced disappearance and torture, but access to remedy has systematically been blocked and accountability minimal.“Impunity for crimes under international law such as torture and enforced disappearance committed against detainees, including at Guantánamo, is a festering injustice that leaves the USA in serious violation of its international obligations.“On 22 January 2009, ordering the closure of Guantánamo within a year was among President Obama’s first official decisions after he came to office. Five years later, this promise of change has become a human rights failure that threatens to haunt President Obama’s legacy, just as it has his predecessor’s.“Every year that the USA has been operating the Guantánamo detention camp, it has continued to proclaim its commitment to international human rights standards. If any other country was responsible for the human rights vacuum of Guantánamo, it would surely draw the USA’s condemnation. It’s long past time for the US authorities to end this double standard.”
With regard to extremely long delays to the release of detainees from the camp, Amnesty pointed out that the USA is expecting other countries to do what it refuses to - to accept released detainees who cannot be repatriated for safety reasons. As a result, even those who obtain a judicial ruling against their detention may continue to be held. The transfer to Slovakia last month of three Chinese ethnic Uighur men came more than five years after a US federal judge ruled their detention unlawful. More than 70 detainees - the majority of them Yemenis - have been “approved for transfer”, but the security situation in their home countries or other issues have been deemed by the administration as reasons to delay their transfer out of Guantánamo.