13 Feb U.N. Special Rapporteurs Find That Gitmo Violates International Law
Big surprise. The U.N. Human Rights Commission’s special rapporteurs investigating Guantanamo Bay has concluded that the U.S. is violating international treaties on human rights and torture in its treatment of detainees in Guantanamo Bay. This Latimes summary is not quite clear for the basis of the special rapporteurs’ conclusions, although it does note that the special rapporteurs have based their report almost entirely on interviews with detainees who were released from Guantanamo. The investigators rejected a U.S. offer to visit the prison claiming they would not have received sufficient access (it is worth reminding ourselves that the U.S. has no legal obligation to admit the U.N. investigators).
I don’t think this report will add much to the conversation about Guantanamo. This does not mean the policies they describe in Guantanamo are not troubling (they are), but this report does not appear to have any new information or access to any information more reliable than the press reports about Guantanamo. The rapporteurs, as I’ve pointed out before, have no particularly special qualifications in doing their work, nor do their opinions provide any greater evidence of what international law does or does not require.
Indeed, no surprise. Prof. Ku, as usual, applies the highest academic standards when it comes to reviewing anything critical of the present Administration’s implementation of international law. (A) “(…) This Latimes summary is not quite clear for the basis of the special rapporteurs’ conclusions, although it does note that the special rapporteurs have based their report almost entirely on interviews with detainees who were released from Guantanamo. (…)” Not quite. The Latimes articles actually says: “(…)The report, compiled by five U.N. envoys who interviewed former prisoners, detainees’ lawyers and families, and U.S. officials, is the product of an 18-month investigation ordered by the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. (…)” (B) “(…) The investigators rejected a U.S. offer to visit the prison claiming they would not have received sufficient access (it is worth reminding ourselves that the U.S. has no legal obligation to admit the U.N. investigators). (…)” Talking about important reminders, from the same article: “(…) In November, the Bush administration offered the U.N. team the same tour of the prison given to journalists and members of Congress, but refused the envoys access to prisoners. Because of that, the U.N. group declined the visit. (…)” Think of this parallel example:… Read more »