06 May Bellinger Appears Before UN Committee Against Torture
06.05.06
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State Department Legal Advisor John Bellinger appeared before the U.N. Committee Against Torture in Geneva to discuss the U.S. policy and practice as it relates to torture. A transcript of Bellinger’s remarks is not yet available. An eleven page questionnaire presented by the Committee Against Torture is available here. Some of the questions are extraordinarily interesting and, to the best of my knowledge, have not been the focus of sufficient public attention (e.g., Question 3: Explain the substantive reasons why the August 2002 torture memos were replaced with the December 2004 torture memos?; Question 23: Are the terms of the Convention applicable to government contractors?)
Depending on who is doing the reporting, the United Nations either “grilled”, “quizzed”, “questioned”, or “reviewed” the United States record on torture. And depending on who is doing the reporting, the United States either “denied”, “defended”, “explained” or “presented” its treatment of detainees. Guess which newspapers used which words? Continue reading for the answer.
Depending on who is doing the reporting, the United Nations either “grilled”, “quizzed”, “questioned”, or “reviewed” the United States record on torture. And depending on who is doing the reporting, the United States either “denied”, “defended”, “explained” or “presented” its treatment of detainees. Guess which newspapers used which words? Continue reading for the answer.
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I wholeheartedly agree that ‘[s]ome of the questions are extraordinarily interesting and…have not been the focus of sufficient public attention.’ I also think we might benefit from going behind the headlines in search of the possible reasons that motivated the Committee Against Torture’s questionnaire in the first place. Among possible reasons, we might cite the following summaries from data available at Human Rights Watch (hrw.org): List of “Ghost Prisoners” Possibly in CIA Custody List of Detainees Published by Human Rights Watch November 30, 2005 Background Briefing The following is a list of persons believed to be in U.S. custody as “ghost detainees” — detainees who are not given any legal rights or access to counsel, and who are likely not reported to or seen by the International Committee of the Red Cross. The list is compiled from media reports, public statements by government officials, and from other information obtained by Human Rights Watch. Human Rights Watch does not consider this list to be Under international law, enforced disappearances occur when persons are deprived of their liberty, and the detaining authority refuses to disclose their fate or whereabouts, or refuses to acknowledge their detention, which places the detainees outside the protection… Read more »
The following corrects the editing error above from the first report by Human Rights Watch:
‘Human Rights Watch does not consider this list to be complete: there are likely other “ghost detainees” held by the United States. Under international law, enforced disappearances occur when persons are deprived of their liberty, and the detaining authority refuses to disclose their fate or whereabouts, or refuses to acknowledge their detention, which places the detainees outside the protection of the law.’