United States: Calling for Closure of Guantánamo after 24 Years

January 11, 2026 is the shameful 24th anniversary of the opening of the military detention facility at Guantánamo Bay. We, the undersigned 116 U.S.-based and international non-governmental organisations – working on a range of issues, including international human rights, immigrants’ rights, racial justice, and combating anti-Muslim discrimination – again call for its closure.

For two decades, we have advocated for closing Guantánamo and for accountability for post-9/11 U.S. policies that evade due process and condone torture. The Guantánamo detention facility – built on the same military base where the United States unconstitutionally detained Haitian refugees in deplorable conditions in the early 1990s – is the iconic example of the abandonment of the rule of law. The detention facility was designed specifically to evade legal constraints, and Bush administration officials incubated torture there. Since 2002, nearly 800 men have been detained at Guantánamo’s military detention facility, all of them Muslim, and the majority having never been charged with a crime.

Today, 15 men remain indefinitely detained, including three who have long been cleared for release by U.S. national security agencies. Many of them were tortured by the CIA or the U.S. military after 9/11 and now, two decades on, are aging and presenting complex medical conditions that DOD officials have acknowledged Guantánamo cannot manage. The interminable military commissions have failed to deliver any measure of justice for 9/11.

The failure of past administrations to close Guantánamo continues to cause escalating and profound harm to the men who still languish there. It has also enabled what many feared, and against which we and others repeatedly warned: the repurposing of Guantánamo to detain others unlawfully.

Since February 2025, over 700 immigrants – most transported from the United States – have been temporarily detained at both Guantánamo’s Migrant Operations Center and Camp 6, part of the military detention facility. These individuals have been subjected to inhumane treatment, including prolonged isolation, denial of legal counsel, and degrading conditions. Additionally, many were sent to other countries without individualized assessments whether they might face torture and persecution.

It is precisely due to the lack of accountability for post-9/11 U.S. crimes that this is happening. The Trump administration’s reprehensible decision to hold immigrants, including asylum seekers and refugees, unlawfully in a facility notorious for human rights abuses is made possible by the systematic erosion of the rule of law in the name of national security by Democrats and Republicans alike. A longstanding culture of impunity has facilitated the Trump administration’s efforts to militarise immigration enforcement through wartime authorities and counterterrorism policies; to invoke Guantánamo’s horrific legacy; and to leverage the United States’ reputation as a torturer to terrorise and vilify immigrants.

As organisations committed to human rights and the rule of law, we reaffirm a unified and unequivocal call:

Transfer without delay the six men who are not charged with a crime; end the failed military commissions and resolve pending cases; permanently close Guantánamo, without repurposing the facility for any future detention regime; hold perpetrators of U.S. crimes accountable; and provide redress to those whose fundamental human rights the U.S. has violated.

Signatures

1. Adrian Dominican Sisters
2. Advokato
3. Afghans For A Better Tomorrow
4. Alliance of Baptists
5. Almonqith organization for Human Rights
6. American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
7. American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)
8. Amnesty International USA
9. Antigone
10. Arab American Family Services
11. Asian Classics Institute
12. Bellevue Program for Survivors of Torture
13. Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI)
14. CAGE International
15. Campaign Against Arms Trade
16. Campaign for Peace, Disarmament & Common Security
17. Center for Constitutional Rights
18. Center for Gender & Refugee Studies
19. Center for Victims of Torture
20. Centre Action Sociale Réhabilitation et Réadaptation pour les Victimes de la Torture et de la guerre
21. Church Women United in New York State
22. Citizen’s Gavel Foundation
23. Close Guantanamo
24. Coalition for Civil Freedoms
25. Coalition to Stop Trident
26. Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, U.S. Provinces
27. Consortium des Associations de Jeunes Pour la Défense des Victimes de Violences en Guinée (COJEDEV)
28. Council of Bishops, United Methodist Church
29. Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
30. Cross Cultural Foundation Thailand
31. De Novo Center for Justice and Healing
32. Defending Rights & Dissent
33. Demand Progress
34. Ensaaf
35. FEDERATION DES FEMMES POUR LE DEVELOPPEMENT INTEGRAL AU CONGO
36. Friends Committee on National Legislation
37. Government Information Watch
38. Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters, USA-JPIC
39. Hope Knows No Borders Network
40. Human Rights Center, UC Berkeley
41. Human Rights First
42. Human Rights Watch
43. Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef)
44. Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace
45. International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP)
46. International Rehabilitation Council for Torture victims (IRCT)
47. InterReligious Task Force on Central America
48. Irídia – Human Rights Defence Center
49. Jiyan Foundation for Human Rights
50. Just Detention International
51. Just Neighbors
52. JusticeMakers Bangladesh in France (JMBF)
53. Kenya Human Rights Commission
54. Khmer Health Advocates
55. L.I.Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives
56. Lebanese Centre For Human Rights (CLDH)
57. Liberia Association of Psychosocial Services
58. LIncoln Park Presbyterian Church
59. Listening and Assistance Center, LAC
60. Marjorie Kovler Center, Heartland Alliance International
61. Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns
62. Maryknoll Sisters
63. MPower Change Action Fund
64. Multifaith Voices for Peace & Justice
65. Muslim Advocates
66. Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative (MuslimARC)
67. Muslim Counterpublics Lab
68. Muslim Justice CenterMuslim Justice League
69. Muslims for Just Futures
70. Mutual Aid Immigration Network
71. Mwatikho Torture Survivors Foundation
72. National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd
73. National Immigrant Justice Center
74. National Immigration Law Center
75. National Religious Campaign Against Torture
76. North Carolina Stop Torture Now
77. Northwest Ohio Peace Coalition
78. Oasis Legal Services
79. Omega Research Foundation
80. Pax Christi Florida
81. Pax Christi Massachusetts
82. Pax Christi USA
83. Peace & Planet News
84. Peace Action
85. Peace Action New York State
86. Peace Catalyst International
87. Peace, Earthcare and Social Witness Committee of Strawberry Creek Meeting
88. Peacemakers of Schoharie County
89. Physicians for Human Rights
90. PRAWA
91. Program for Torture Victims
92. Provincial Council Clerics of St. Viator
93. Reprieve US
94. ROADDH/WAHRDN
95. Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre-RULAAC
96. Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition
97. Schoharie County Peacemakers
98. September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows
99. Shoulder to Shoulder Campaign
100. Sisters of St. Francis
101. Sisters of the Presentation, Dubuque IA
102. Social Justice Guild, First Existentialist Congregation of Atlanta
103. Sojourners
104. T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights
105. Tea Project
106. The Center for Victims of Torture
107. The Interfaith Center of New York
108. The May 13 Group
109. United for Peace and Justice
110. West African Human Rights Defenders Network
111. Western States Legal Foundation
112. Win Without War
113. Witness Against Torture
114. World BEYOND War
115. World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)
116. Yelef Initiative