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RIGHTS: UN Commission to Address Abuses in Guantanamo and ‘War on Terrorism’

Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA, Apr 15 2005 (IPS) - During the last week of its 61st annual session, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights will have to deal with two of the touchiest issues on the international agenda today: the situation of the prisoners at the U.S. naval base in Guantánamo Bay, and rights violations committed in the name of fighting terrorism.

During the last week of its 61st annual session, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights will have to deal with two of the touchiest issues on the international agenda today: the situation of the prisoners at the U.S. naval base in Guantánamo Bay, and rights violations committed in the name of fighting terrorism.

In the case of Guantánamo, Cuba is calling on the Commission to demand that the United States allow for an independent, impartial investigation into the situation of the prisoners being held at the military base on the eastern tip of the island.

Cuban delegate Rodolfo Reyes Rodríguez said Friday that his country was not presenting the proposal in retaliation for the U.S.-sponsored resolution against Cuba adopted by the Commission the day before.

Meanwhile, with regard to the protection of human rights in the fight against terrorism, the Commission will be studying a draft resolution presented by Mexico and cosponsored by a number of other states, which calls for the designation of a U.N. special rapporteur to address the issue.

Mexico’s proposal, however, has come up against the opposition of a small group of countries led by the United States, China and Russia.

Up until now, the U.N. human rights body had ignored both of these questions, despite the vocal demands of civil society organisations.

During last year’s annual session, Cuba had submitted a resolution on the situation in Guantánamo Bay, where the United States is holding roughly 550 prisoners labelled “enemy combatants” because of purported links to the Taliban forces in Afghanistan and the Al Qaeda terrorist network.

The U.S.-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) says there is growing evidence that the detainees in Guantánamo, who hail from around 40 different countries, have suffered torture and other cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment over the past three years.

The Cuban proposal calls on the Commission to demand that the U.S. government authorise a visit to the Guantánamo military prison by four U.N. experts: the U.N. Commission on Human Rights Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Leïla Zerrougui; the Commission’s Special Rapporteur on Torture, Manfred Nowak; the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, Paul Hunt; and the Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Leandro Despouy.

The four experts made the same request to the U.S. authorities last June, but have yet to receive an affirmative response.

Nevertheless, after meeting last month with the U.S. delegates to the Commission’s ongoing session in Geneva, Nowak said he was confident of a possible visit this year to the Guantánamo prison, although he has not yet received an invitation.

Cuba is also calling for U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour to present a report on the situation of the prisoners in Guantánamo at next year’s session of the Commission.

The Cuban initiative, presented Friday to the other Commission member states and to civil society groups, earned the immediate support of the delegations from China, Iran and Belarus.

However, a U.S. delegate countered that the proposal for an investigation in Guantánamo was inappropriate, arguing that the United States has already taken great efforts to look into this issue, and that it is currently in the hands of the justice system.

In response, China recommended that a paragraph be inserted into the introduction to the draft resolution to include the U.S. claim that human rights are respected in the Guantánamo prison camp and that steps are being taken to ensure that justice is properly served.

The Mexican proposal to designate a special rapporteur with the mandate of protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms in the course of counterterrorism activities is based on the conclusions of a report presented to the Commission this year by Robert K. Goldman, a U.N. independent expert on the subject, and similar recommendations made by Arbour and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan.

According to Goldman, since the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks on New York and Washington, “a broad range of human rights have come under increasing pressure or are being violated by States in the context of…counterterrorism initiatives.”

“There are significant gaps in coverage of treaty bodies and special procedures’ systems for monitoring States’ counter-terrorism measures,” he added.

Nonetheless, according to leading human rights groups – Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Commission of Jurists, the International Federation of Human Rights Leagues and the International Service for Human Rights – a number of countries are blocking the proposal for a special rapporteur on the issue by demanding “unacceptable amendments designed to kill or hollow-out the mandate.”

In addition to the United States, China and Russia, a number of other states are trying to weaken the Mexican proposal, including Australia, India and Pakistan, the human rights groups say.

“Nearly four years after the Sept. 11, 2001 tragedy and the Security Council mandate for robust international action to combat terrorism, and despite more than three years of discussion in the U.N. human rights system, China has argued that it is ‘too early’ for establishing such a special rapporteur,” the groups stated.

On Friday, the organisations called on the Commission “to act now to address meaningfully one of the greatest human rights challenges presently faced by the international community.”

The Commission’s 53 member states will address the issues of the prisoners at Guantánamo and the protection of human rights in the fight against terrorism during the last week of its six-week session, which ends Apr. 22.