06Mar04

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FIDH Resolution Regarding Guantanamo Bay Detainees.

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The members of the International Federation of Human Rights,

Noting the United States Government is indefinitely holding hundreds of detainees at the United States Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba,

Recognizing that the Government has denied the detainees access to counsel, consular representatives, and family members ;

Acknowledging that most of the detentions resulted from the military operation of the United States in Afghanistan,

Recognizing that the United States Government has denied the detainees prisoner of war status and has failed to present criminal charges against them,

Considering that the Government has failed to provide any judicial review of the detentions, and has provided that any trials of the detainees will be held by military commissions,

Given that the United States is bound by international human rights law and international humanitarian law, in particular the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Third Geneva Convention, both of which it has ratified,

Considering that the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) has determined that the detainees at Guantanamo Bay are entitled to the protection of these laws,

Taking into account that the Third Geneva Convention specifically requires that persons captured during an international armed conflict must be treated as prisoners of war unless a competent tribunal determines that they do not have such status,

Given that the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has found that the Guantanamo Bay detainees are guaranteed the right to have the lawfulness of their detentions reviewed by a competent court and the right to fair trials under articles 105 and 106 of the Third Geneva Convention, or under Articles 9 and 14 of the ICCPR if a competent tribunal determines that they are not prisoners of war,

Given that the ICCPR and the Third Geneva Convention require that the detainees are treated humanely,

Considering that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has asked the United States to formalize and clarify the fate of each and every individual in Guantanamo Bay and put an end to the current seemingly open-ended system of internment, in accordance with international humanitarian law,

Considering that the United States is a member of the Organization of American States and bound by the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man,

Given that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has requested that the United States take the urgent measures necessary to have the legal status of the detainees at Guantanamo Bay determined by a competent tribunal ;

Call on the United States Government to abide by international human rights law and international humanitarian law, and comply with the request by the ICRC and the measures granted by the IACHR,

Request that the United States Government respect the legal rights of the detainees to have their legal status determined by a competent tribunal and to be treated in accordance with their status,

And ask that the United States honor its international law obligation to treat the Guantanamo Bay detainees humanely, and to confirm that it has done so.

"Noting further that other Governments throughout the world are detaining people without charge on the mere suspicion of terrorism, and in particular the U.K.Government is detaining some 14 foreign nationals withut charge or trial under the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001

Considering that the United Kingdom is party to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and has entered a derogation in respect of article 5 (Right to Liberty and Security) on the pretext that there is "a public emergency threatening the life of the nation", which derogation is currently being challenged as illegal ;

Considering further that the U.K. is also party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and other international instruments prohibiting detention without trial ;

Calls upon the U.K. Government either to charge these detainees or to release them, and to withdraw its derogation from the E.C.H.R., recognising that there is no such "public emergency"

FIDH: XXXV Congress - Quito, 2-6 March, 2004

State of Exception and Human Rights

This document has been published on 26mar04 by the Equipo Nizkor and Derechos Human Rights.