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Subscribe to RSSThe United States is still flouting international law at Guantanamo Bay, despite President Barack Obama's election pledge to shut the facility, the United Nations human rights chief Navi Pillay said Monday.
"It is ten years since the U.S. Government opened the prison at Guantanamo, and now three years since 22 January 2009, when the President ordered its closure within twelve months. Yet the facility continues to exist and individuals remain arbitrarily detained -- indefinitely -- in clear breach of international law," Pillay said in a statement, ahead of Obama's next annual speech Tuesday.
Pillay said that she is deeply disappointed the U.S. government has "entrenched a system of arbitrary detention."
She said she also was "disturbed at the failure to ensure accountability for serious human rights violations, including torture, that took place."
Six trials in 10 years
Former President George W. Bush set up the camp at a U.S. naval base in Cuba after U.S.-led forces invaded Afghanistan to expel al-Qaida following the Sept. 11 attacks.
Eight prisoners have died at Guantanamo, two deaths ascribed to natural causes and the rest classified as suicides, and many detainees have said they were tortured.
Only six trials have been completed in 10 years.
"While fully recognizing the right and duty of states to protect their people and territory from terrorist acts, I remind all branches of the U.S. government of their obligation under international human rights law to ensure that individuals deprived of their liberty can have the lawfulness of their detention reviewed before a court," Pillay said.
"Where credible evidence exists against Guantanamo detainees, they should be charged and prosecuted. Otherwise, they must be released," she added.
Obama had planned to move some detainees to the United States, but Congress blocked funding for that plan and tightly restricted all transfers out, demanding his administration must notify congressional intelligence committees and guarantee the prisoner will not engage in terrorism.
Pillay urged Congress to enable the administration to close the camp.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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What?...no mention of the bill obama signed making it legal for the indefinant detention of Americans with no trial let alone charges or representation.
NDAA 10-21. Obama will make use of this provision to remove the traitors to this country from our midst and political process, in January 2013. Earlier yet, if the RE-peat-the-LIE-to-the PUBLIC-ans try to steal another Presidential election.
Unfortunately, neither party seems too concerned about human rights if there is a possibility of terrorism being involved.
I had hoped closing Gitmo was one promise Obama was going to keep, but unfortunately that's not the case. (and I don't count his lame attempt in 2009...he backed off as soon as he got push back)
Classic UN posturing against the US (AKA UN host nation, main financier and contributor, etc.) The UN takes it upon itself to call the US mean for the detention of terrorists (not foreign soldiers covered under the Geneva Conventions) while not calling for the end to massacres around the world, not going after Syria's thrashing it's own people for protesting against the government, etc.
All this while the UN just lets Iran go about it's merry business developing nuclear weapons, and at a later date will turn to the US to say, "well, what are you going to do about that?" They defend the indefensible, they verify clearly tainted election results, endorse dictators, and give nations with CLEAR violations seats/chairs on UN committees overseeing what they do wrong (human rights committee, etc.).
So far as the blame sticking on President Obama, well- he did say (loudly) that President Bush was wrong and he was going to close it, but once he gained power he realized that it's not quite that easy to do.... and protect the country's interests. Notice that they haven't been adding too many inmates to Gitmo and have taken the drone method of terrorist management?
The UN is right. We have no business detaining these people all this time without charges. Charge them with a crime or declare them to be prisoners of war. We would be furious if another country locked up our citizens without charging them with a crime and giving them a fair (repeat, fair) trial.
If our citizens started blowing up buildings full of innocent people in another country I would have no problems with that country detaining them. Until then you and the UN can pound sand.
Just close the place. Fill it up with concrete.
If the UN wants the prisoners, they can jack-hammer them out!
There is a huge difference (big enough that even the UN should be able to see it) between a person disappearing because he won a Nobel Prize and a person disappearing because he wants to slaughter innocent people just because they practice a different religion then he does. Gitmo doesn't bother me in the least. Sure, they say they're innocent, but how many have gone right back to planning the murder of the 'infidels' the second they were released?
And besides, Obama TRIED to close Gitmo, but no country in the world wanted to take the scum that are in there. Tell the UN to do something about that, and I'm sure it will be closed.
Well Obama she has spoken again--let's see she has bad mouthed China, Iraq some others and now you Obama--I say give all the prisoners to South Africa and make this woman and her country pay for them--problem solved..
The UN has enough problems in it's own house. Clean up your own mess and then come talk to us.
If we cleaned up our own messes, the UN wouldn't have to say anything.
Reading comprehension, Barry....reading comprehension!
Interesting how the US simply ignores the UN when it suits it, but when another country does the same, the US suddenly becomes the World Police, enforcing UN mandates.
Some in the United States.... mostly the CIA would like to continue with their S&M spankings! Even if GITMO closes America will continue with outsourcing torture.... No real change.... Just more of an expense.
NO!!! Go solve real problems elsewhere in the world like Syria, Iran, and North Korea for starters.
I'm sure the UN would love to solve the problems in Syria, Iran, and North Korea, but the Security Council, where if even one member vetoes a measure than it doesn't pass, has Russia and China on it, and they regularly veto measures concerning Syria, Iran, and North Korea.
The only other countries that detain people without trial are the same ones you say the UN should be dealing with, or oppose us in those places. We are not in good company on this issue.
Why does it take someone from the UN to tell us about human rights? You ever wonder why we are hated? Just because of this. WE DON'T DO AS WE SAY! We don't live up to our ideals. "Do as we say, not as we do". It's our hypocracy that is the problem. The world wants to believe in America and what it is supposed to stand for. I am so disappointed in Obama over this. I don't know why this is being allowed to continue. Guantonamo is a national embarrassment.
See post 1.7
Jack, it's big enough that you should be able to see it too.
Thousands of Somali's are being slaughtered this week and this is what the UN is worried about? Typical.
Unlike Somalia, the US is supposed to be a beacon of human rights. If the United States won't uphold basic human rights, how can any other country, including Somalia, be held to account?
Barry- the US is a beacon for human rights as long as your not caught out of uniform in a war zone launching terroristic attacks on uniformed soldiers.....Somalia should'nt be held to account?......good one Barry....... with logic like yours, you should be working in the UN......
If that's their crime, then charge them with it and give them the opportunity to prove their innocence. And, did I say that Somalia shouldn't be held to account? Requiring one nation to adhere to the rule of law doesn't let the others off the hook.
It is alarming to me to see Americans, the people that have shed blood and plenty of it, to establish human rights and the rule of law be so willing to go against their own core beliefs. Little wonder we are falling behind as a world power. Not militarily, we are way top heavy in that respect, but the power that comes from being a good example.
Right away many of the bloggers get into the lefty, rightee mode as if it is a partisan question. It is an American question. Are we going to say that all those that died or were wounded wasted their lives, or are we going to shape up and be real Americans and not endless cry babies?
Yeah, it's true that there a lot of much bigger problems in the world, but this still matters for two reasons:
One, just because there's famine in Africa or mass murder in Syria doesn't discharge the United States from its obligations to human rights. Human rights are an absolute standard, not a relative one.
And two, the UN should concentrate on using diplomatic pressure on those countries - like the United States - that might actually respond to it. The US cares about its image and international clout. The UN can't do a bloody thing about Syria, even if Russia would let them try, but embarrassing the US into obeying its own laws and principles just might work.
I hope Obama finds a solution to this problem soon; I know he tried, but I still consider Guantanomo his biggest failure and betrayal as president.
Guantamo ca be used for: The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) U.S. citizens would be placed into military custody without their rights to due process and the presumption of innocence under lied in the Constitution.
Screw the UN.
That's fine, but as I said above, don't say "screw the UN" when it's convenient to, then say, "they violated UN sanctions" as an excuse to invade somebody.
everyone of these guys should have been field interrogated and double tapped.
Certainly would have saved us a lot of hassle.
This woman has a reputation for her hatred of the United States. In fact .. that is how many think she was awarded the head position. Navi Palley has, herself been on several tribunals and has always deferred t the accused.
The United State is not under, nor ever should be under, the authority of the U.N. Why don't you focus on Iran, Nigeria and North Korea you whacko Bimbo?
The UN can address more than one human rights violator at the moment. Sad to say, we're one of those violators.
Right, charge them or let them go.
yeah he says that now but he'll change his tune or go silent once the money hits his account
navyvet98
You said: The United State is not under, nor ever should be under, the authority of the U.N.
BTW: I am also a Navy vet from the 50s.
The USA is the UN, It was us that motivated the nations to join for common purpose. It was us that provided the venue in NY.
It is intersting the the country, Israel, that was actually created by the UN, will not follow any of its directives or sanctions.
You know, Navy man, if you are looking for perfection or insit that American can never be wrong, then you need a more extensive education. Thank you for serving your country.
You melt together all the colors of the ideologies of all the nations in the UN and you get an ugly gray, not the gold of our Bill OF Rights for the equality of all people. All people have the same rights! That’s what this great nation has been set up for, as a World Standard. Now we have a religion that is 100% against our Bill Of Rights and the equality of all peoples, islam! What are we to do with an ideology that is against freedom and liberty? Ignore it? Don’t be STUPID. Re-educate & reform it, or destroy it! You are not going to get answers when you question it’s captured radicals nicely, will you please help me kill your mean-spirited & evil intent brothers, for we can have peace. So we have Gitmo.
Guantamo ca be used for: The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) U.S. citizens would be placed into military custody without their rights to due process and the presumption of innocence under lied in the Constitution.
Tell Pillay he will have to wait until January 2013 to speak to The President Of The United States. All we have now is a lying HNIC who is too busy singing at the apollo to take his call.
If you're going to call him a @!$%#, at least have the courage to spell it out. Don't tell me that's not what the N stands for. I say this as somebody who DIDN'T vote for him.
We are barbarians violating International Laws and Geneva accords that we signed. Because we are the bully on the block in our phoney " War On Terror" we do what we want. We talk about morality even Human Rights just for sound effects ,but we practice little of it. Did you watch the cop spray the students in a peaceful sit-in ? That is a violation of Human Rights. Guantanamo is much more drastic . We supported killing of Kadhafi and we all saw how INHUMANLY he was murdered countrary to International Laws that countries perpertrating this war crime signed. There is no justice , only whims of the elite ruling classes that Obama serves-very sad. We are in a moral crisis as a nation .
Guantamo ca be used for: The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) U.S. citizens would be placed into military custody without their rights to due process and the presumption of innocence under lied in the Constitution.
And Guantanamo should be turn back to their owner: Cuba.
Typical of the UN to deflect their own current shortcomings / undersights back at the good old USA. And why didn't Obama close it like he said he was going to? He vilified Bush numerous times during the campaign about Gitmo and said it was going to be one of his priorities to close it down. Guess he forgot about that, or he realizes the right thing to do is to have a repository for terrorist a** holes we can't kill in combat.
Too bad on 911 they didn't fly into the useless United Nations instead of the twin towers. Have you seen how many released gitmo internees have gone back to where they started with jihad? Answer is 54!
Try to remember, 9/11 is a date. 9/11/2001. It is not an emergency number. Stop conflating the two.
Or did Cheney plan the attack to place on 9/11, so that later on people like you could refer to it as 911 so the DATE would be forgotten as something that took place in September 2001, during his watch.........
Never forget........NO PROOF has ever been provided that the "Muslims" were flying the planes on 9/11/2001.
Un-crossexamined "evidence" is not to be considered PROOF of anything in the US system of justice.
Paul. and WT7 fell straight down without any airplane touching it. This was never included in the investigation, not even mentioned in the press.
Because the prisoners were initially denied due process I imagine under our legal system many of them would be found not guilty on technicalities which wouldn't be easily swallowed considering that we view them as terrorist. We do however profess to believe in giving a person his day in court in the event that some of these guys may just have been in the wrong place at the wrong time and we should address the problem instead of just keeping these guys in a state of limbo. I suggest we place a tracking device inside these guys without their knowledge and the ones we can't prosecute we set free and see where and with whom they land. We also let it be known that this is an option we might have used and seed some paranoia among our enemies.
YES... close GITMO down. Congress is holding the whole thing hostage by not allowing prosecution to move forward. It's a little hard to preach tolerance and due process when we won't walk our talk. WTF
Guantamo ca be used for: The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) U.S. citizens would be placed into military custody without their rights to due process and the presumption of innocence under lied in the Constitution. USA land of the free......
Guantamo is not property of the USA, it is an illegal possesion of part of Cuba. It must be return back to the owner.
It will when the lease is up or castro dies etc
When castro dies etc the USA will try to take back Cuba and turn it into the American burdel that Cuba was before Castro.
US is hypocratical and exercises double standard. On one hand she is preaching others with the annual publication of human right reports crictical of other nations, yet US allow torture in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, deprive the detainees of their human right, carried out war of aggression on false pretence.
US has no moral highground or creditability to point fingers on others.
Yeah Dorf isn't politics great when you're wrong your right and when your right your wrong, so what seems to be the problem..