United States of America
03.12.04
Urgent Interventions
Guantanamo Bay: OMCT requests an investigation on the allegations of torture and / or ill-treatment at Guantanamo Bay
PRESS RELEASE
December 3rd 2004
OMCT requests an investigation on the allegations of torture and / or ill-treatment at Guantanamo Bay
The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the SOS-Torture network have on numerous occasions condemned the acts torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment carried out in detention centres run by the United States’ administration in Guantanamo Bay (Cuba) and Abu Ghraib (Iraq).
On 29 November 2004, the New York Times revealed the existence of a confidential report of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) describing the continuing use of psychological and sometimes physical coercion “tantamount to torture” on detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. OMCT and the SOS-Torture network are once again extremely concerned by these revelations, not least because they implicate medical professionals in the abusive treatment of detainees. According to the NYT, the ICRC observed that “[d]octors and medical personnel conveyed information about prisoners’ mental health and vulnerabilities to interrogators.”
According to the ICRC, detainees have been subjected to “humiliating acts, solitary confinement, temperature extremes, and the use of force” in order to break their will and make them dependent on their interrogators. ICRC representatives reported that “the construction of such a system, whose stated purpose is the production of intelligence, cannot be considered other than an intentional system of cruel, unusual and degrading treatment and a form of torture”. Finally, the ICRC’s report condemns this practice as a flagrant violation of medical ethics.
“These revelations illustrate that the legalistic rhetoric of Bush administration is no more than a smoke screen which hides intolerable practices, perpetrated apparently by all personnel charged with responsibilities for detainees, including, shockingly, medical personnel” said Eric Sottas, Director of OMCT.
“Additionally, it shows that the United States has not kept the commitments it made in the wake of the Abu Ghraib scandal, to ensure that the rights of detainees be upheld and respected” concluded Eric Sottas.
OMCT and the SOS-Torture network have always recalled that whatever the gravity of the acts with which a detainee is charged, detainees are entitled to the protections of international human rights and humanitarian law, and in particular to the prohibition of torture, which is absolute and non-derogable.
OMCT and the SOS-Torture network request an immediate, impartial and international investigation on the above-mentioned allegations of torture and / or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. OMCT requests also that those responsible should be brought to justice through an impartial and fair trial.
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Background information :
The Geneva-based World Organisation Against Torture is the largest international coalition of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) fighting against torture, summary executions, forced disappearances and all other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
In co-ordinating the SOS-Torture network, comprising over 260 national, regional and international organisations in 85 countries, OMCT has, since its inception, set as its task the provision of support for the actions of organisations in the field, while avoiding substituting itself for them. The structure of the SOS-Torture network has allowed OMCT to reinforce local activity while favouring the access of national NGOs to international institutions.
Support is granted to individual victims or potential victims of torture through urgent campaigns (notably in favour of children, women and human rights defenders) and urgent legal, social and medical assistance. It is also more general in nature, through the submission of reports to the various United Nations mechanisms.
December 3rd 2004
OMCT requests an investigation on the allegations of torture and / or ill-treatment at Guantanamo Bay
The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the SOS-Torture network have on numerous occasions condemned the acts torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment carried out in detention centres run by the United States’ administration in Guantanamo Bay (Cuba) and Abu Ghraib (Iraq).
On 29 November 2004, the New York Times revealed the existence of a confidential report of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) describing the continuing use of psychological and sometimes physical coercion “tantamount to torture” on detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. OMCT and the SOS-Torture network are once again extremely concerned by these revelations, not least because they implicate medical professionals in the abusive treatment of detainees. According to the NYT, the ICRC observed that “[d]octors and medical personnel conveyed information about prisoners’ mental health and vulnerabilities to interrogators.”
According to the ICRC, detainees have been subjected to “humiliating acts, solitary confinement, temperature extremes, and the use of force” in order to break their will and make them dependent on their interrogators. ICRC representatives reported that “the construction of such a system, whose stated purpose is the production of intelligence, cannot be considered other than an intentional system of cruel, unusual and degrading treatment and a form of torture”. Finally, the ICRC’s report condemns this practice as a flagrant violation of medical ethics.
“These revelations illustrate that the legalistic rhetoric of Bush administration is no more than a smoke screen which hides intolerable practices, perpetrated apparently by all personnel charged with responsibilities for detainees, including, shockingly, medical personnel” said Eric Sottas, Director of OMCT.
“Additionally, it shows that the United States has not kept the commitments it made in the wake of the Abu Ghraib scandal, to ensure that the rights of detainees be upheld and respected” concluded Eric Sottas.
OMCT and the SOS-Torture network have always recalled that whatever the gravity of the acts with which a detainee is charged, detainees are entitled to the protections of international human rights and humanitarian law, and in particular to the prohibition of torture, which is absolute and non-derogable.
OMCT and the SOS-Torture network request an immediate, impartial and international investigation on the above-mentioned allegations of torture and / or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. OMCT requests also that those responsible should be brought to justice through an impartial and fair trial.
*********************************************************************************************************
Background information :
The Geneva-based World Organisation Against Torture is the largest international coalition of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) fighting against torture, summary executions, forced disappearances and all other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
In co-ordinating the SOS-Torture network, comprising over 260 national, regional and international organisations in 85 countries, OMCT has, since its inception, set as its task the provision of support for the actions of organisations in the field, while avoiding substituting itself for them. The structure of the SOS-Torture network has allowed OMCT to reinforce local activity while favouring the access of national NGOs to international institutions.
Support is granted to individual victims or potential victims of torture through urgent campaigns (notably in favour of children, women and human rights defenders) and urgent legal, social and medical assistance. It is also more general in nature, through the submission of reports to the various United Nations mechanisms.