By Haider Rizvi
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 11 2007 (IPS)

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called Thursday for the United States to shut down its widely condemned prison complex in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where the U.S. military has locked up hundreds of foreign citizens on suspicion of links to terrorism.

“The prison at Guantanamo should be closed,” Ban said in response to a question during his first formal press conference held at U.N. headquarters in New York Thursday.

Ban’s remarks come as human rights groups around the world reiterated their calls for the prison’s closure on the fifth anniversary of the first transfer of prisoners to Guantanamo. Despite international censure, the U.S. government has continued to defend its indefinite detention of more than 400 prisoners without trial.

On Thursday, Human Rights Watch, a leading rights advocacy group, released its annual report deploring the lack of due process and treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo, amid calls for the European Union to take the leadership role in protecting human rights.

“Since the U.S. can’t provide credible leadership on human rights, European countries must pick up the slack,” said the group’s executive director Kenneth Roth.

Ban expressed the hope that the U.S. government would reconsider its position, noting that recently U.S. President George W. Bush had also expressed a desire to close the prison, although he did not give any timeline.

Asked to comment on the U.S. bombing campaign in Somalia this week, Ban said he was “concerned” about the impact on civilians. “We should be concerned that this kind of situation could go in a wrong direction,” he said.

Worried that previous comments about the execution of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein had created the impression that he was in favour of the death penalty, Ban added Thursday that, “I believe that life is precious and must protected and respected.”

“International law affirms these values and I recognise the growing trend in international law, and in national practice towards phasing out the death penalty,” he added.

Responding to media reports raising questions about several new senior staff appointments, the new U.N. chief said all new postings were based on merit, gender balance and geographical distribution. “All of them are outstanding, and I have interviewed them privately,” he said, adding, that no one “is perfect person in this world. Even I don’t claim to be a perfect one.”

However, when asked about the immense influence that the five permanent veto-wielding members of the Security Council – the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France – have historically exerted over such appointments, he said: “They have been putting in many important contributions.”

Ban said he has told all under-secretaries-general and assistant secretaries-general to tender their resignations by Jan. 15, adding that he would like to set “a high ethical standard right from the start.”

The secretary-general said he has submitted his financial disclosure form to the Ethics Office, which will be reviewed by an outside firm and then made public.

On threats to international peace and security, Ban said that dealing with the conflict in Darfur, Sudan was on top of his agenda and that he would soon be discussing this issue with various leaders due to attend the upcoming African Union Summit in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa.

Regarding the situation in the Middle East, Ban said he would be pushing for a so-called Quartet meeting to take place as soon as possible, adding that it will be his “priority to inject new momentum” into the search for peace and stability in the region.

The Quartet of actors attempting to negotiate a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians is made up of the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia.

On his way to Africa, the secretary-general also plans to visit Paris to attend the upcoming Lebanon reconstruction conference.

The new U.N. chief said his priorities included “security challenges” in Afghanistan and Iraq, a conclusion to the status of Kosovo, global disarmament and nuclear nonproliferation regimes, as well as the controversies surrounding the Iranian and North Korean nuclear programmes.

The challenges of peace and security are considerable, he said, “but they must not be allowed to overwhelm our efforts” to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 and to halt climate change.

The eight MDGs include a 50 percent reduction in poverty and hunger; universal primary education; reduction of child mortality by two-thirds; cutbacks in maternal mortality by three-quarters; the promotion of gender equality; environmental sustainability; reversal of the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; and a global partnership for development between the rich and poor.

“We must step up our efforts on MDGs and climate change,” Ban said. “This will be my priority.”

When a reporter asked his views on women’s right to abortion, Ban simply ignored the question and instead turned to reflect on a different subject.

He is due to have his first formal meeting with President Bush at the White House next week.

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