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Amnesty International on its work with Moazzam Begg and Cageprisoners

aron — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 10:56:46 +0000

The comment below is by Amnesty International's interim Secretary General Claudio Cordone.

There has been a lot of controversy in the media surrounding Amnesty International’s work with Moazzam Begg and Cageprisoners, in light of statements by Gita Sahgal, an Amnesty International staff member.

Contrary to Gita Sahgal’s assertions to the media, she was not suspended from Amnesty International for raising these issues internally. In fact, we actively welcome vigorous internal debate. Up to now we have maintained confidentiality in line with our policy but wanted to correct this misrepresentation. This is not a reflection of the organisation’s respect for her work as a women’s rights activist and does not undermine the work she has done over the last few years as the head of Amnesty International’s gender unit.

Our work with Moazzam Begg has focused exclusively on highlighting the human rights violations committed in Guantánamo Bay and the need for the US government to shut it down and either release or put on trial those who have been held there. Moazzam Begg was one of the first detainees released by the US without charge, and has never been charged with any terrorist-related offence or put on trial.

When President Obama promised to close Guantánamo, Amnesty International hoped that we could wind down our campaign and focus more broadly on human rights abuses related to security and terrorism. However, as that promise remains unmet, Amnesty International continues to work with Moazzam Begg and other former detainees to ask European governments to accommodate those who cannot be returned to their country of citizenship without risk of torture or ill-treatment.

In this complex and polarised world, we at Amnesty International face the challenge of communicating clearly the scope of our work with individuals and groups. Amnesty International champions and continues to champion Moazzam Begg’s rights as a former detainee at Guantánamo. He speaks about his own views and experiences, not Amnesty International’s. And Moazzam Begg has never used a platform he shared with Amnesty to speak against the rights of others.

Amnesty International has a long history of demanding justice – in the case of our Counter Terror with Justice Campaign we called for both an end to human rights abuses at Guantánamo and other locations, and called for those detained there to be brought to justice, in fair trials that respected due process.

However, our work for justice and human rights spans a far wider range of issues than counter-terrorism and security. Amnesty International has done considerable research on the Taleban and campaigns to stop violence against women and to promote women’s equality. We continue to take a strong line against abuses by religiously-based insurgent groups and/or governments imposing religious strictures, Islamic or otherwise, in violation of human rights law. Sometimes the people whose rights we defend may not share each other's views – but they all have human rights, and all human rights are worth defending.

США продолжают смотреть в другую сторону, на "война с террором 'злоупотреблениях

aron — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 11:49:13 +0000

img src=http://www.amnesty.org/sites/impact.amnesty.org/files/imagecache/previewsize/sites/impact.amnesty.org/files/PUBLIC/Regions/AMR/usa-gitmo-cells-100x100.jpg alt= title= /br/strongemquot;A commitment to human rights starts with universal standards and with holding everyone accountable to those standards, including ourselveshellip; When injustice anywhere is ignored, justice everywhere is denied. Acknowledging and remedying mistakes does not make us weaker, it reaffirms the strengths of our principles and institutions.quot;/em/strongbr / br / Not Amnesty International's words, but those of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last month in an address on the Obama administration's quot;Human Rights Agenda for the 21stCenturyquot;. - Accountability, she said, was elemental to the administration's approach, and it was under this principle that President Barack Obama had ordered an end to CIA torture and closure of the Guantaacute;namo detention facility.br / br / While Secretary Clinton's words are welcome, the fact is that a year into the new administration, almost 200 individuals remain detained without fair trial at the Guantaacute;namo prison camp, and accountability and remedy for the human rights violations committed against these and other detainees in what the USA previously called the quot;war on terrorquot; remain more myth than reality.br / br / It is nearly eight years, for example, since Abu Zubaydah was arrested in Pakistan. He was hidden away in secret CIA custody for the first four and a half years, subjected to torture and enforced disappearance, crimes under international law for which no-one has been brought to justice. For the past three years he has been in Guantaacute;namo, still held without charge or access to remedy. The Obama administration continues to resist disclosure of what happened to him and others held in secret CIA custody.br / br / Information which the administration had wanted to keep classified emerged in federal court earlier this month in the case of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, namely that he had been subjected to quot;enhanced interrogation techniquesquot; for 14 hours over five days at some point in secret CIA custody.br / br / In its written briefing to the court, the Obama administration argued that its predecessor had quot;justifiablyquot; treated Ghailani as an quot;intelligence assetquot; rather than a criminal defendant, despite a pre-existing indictment in US federal court against him at the time of his arrest in Pakistan in 2004.br / br / It added that the Bush administration had made the quot;entirely reasonablequot; decision to continue to hold Ghailani without charge as an quot;enemy combatantquot;. Ahmed Ghailani was held in secret CIA custody for two years, and in Guantaacute;namo for nearly three more years, before being transferred to New York for trial in June 2009. No one has been brought to account for the human rights violations perpetrated against him.br / br / The impunity goes well beyond abuses in the CIA programme. Shortly before President Obama took office, for example, the Bush administration's Convening Authority for military commissions confirmed that Saudi Arabian national Mohamed al Qahtani had been tortured in military custody at Guantaacute;namo. Despite this admission, a year later, with Mohamed al Qahtani still held without charge in Guantaacute;namo, no criminal investigation is known to have been opened into the torture allegations.br / br / Earlier this month, a US federal judge found quot;crediblequot; the allegations that Yemeni national Musa'ab al Madhwani had been subjected to acts amounting to torture and other ill-treatment in a secret US facility in Kabul before his transfer to Guantaacute;namo where he remains detained without charge more than seven years later.br / br / What accountability will there be for this abuse? None, it would seem, unless the current administration has a rethink about whether accountability and adherence to the USA's international human rights obligations will truly be among its governing principles.br / br / In litigation implicating the USA's international obligations to ensure accountability and remedy for past human rights violations, the Obama administration has all too often adopted a stance that promotes impunity and blocks remedy. For example, in its first year it has:br / ul liinvoked the state secrets privilege to seek dismissal of a lawsuit brought by five detainees for the human rights violations, including crimes under international law, they say they were subjected to in the CIA quot;renditionquot; programme;/li liopposed a lawsuit brought by four UK nationals for the torture and arbitrary detention to which they say they were subjected in Guantaacute;namo, the administration arguing that it was quot;not clearly establishedquot; at the time of the men's detention that they had the rights they said were violated and that the officials concerned were therefore quot;shieldedquot; from civil liability. In December, the US Supreme Court sided with the administration and declined to take the case;/li liintervened to petition a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit filed against John Yoo, a former Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the US Justice Department, for the role the lawsuit claims he played in unlawful detention conditions and interrogation techniques. The Obama administration argued that the context of quot;the detention and treatment of those determined to be enemies during an armed conflicthellip; implicating matters of national security and war powersquot; counselled against the quot;judicial creation of a money-damage remedyquot;;/li limaintained the Bush administration's denial of and opposition to access to lawyers and courts for those held at the US airbase in Bagram in Afghanistan, cementing the accountability gap for abuses committed there and the detaineesrsquo; lack of effective remedy for them;/li lirefused to release of photographs and other documentary material relating to detainee abuses./li /ul When the USA assumed its seat on the UN Human Rights Council in 2009, the Obama administration said: quot;Make no mistake; the United States will not look the other way in the face of serious human rights abuses. The truth must be told, the facts brought to light and the consequences facedquot;. A year on, the administration continues to look the other way when it comes to full disclosure of and remedy for human rights violations perpetrated by the USA in the name of quot;countering terrorismquot;.br / br / The change of tone the Obama administration has brought to the USA's pronouncements on human rights is welcome. It must now match these words with concrete action, including on accountability, remedy, and ending the Guantaacute;namo detentions in line with its international human rights obligations.

Европейские государства должны предпринять конкретные шаги, чтобы помочь закрыть Гуантанамо

aron — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:27:11 +0000

Leading human rights organizations have urged more European states to accept detainees held at the US detention centre at Guantaacute;namo who cannot be returned to their countries of origin for fear of torture or other human rights violations.nbsp; nbsp;br / br / On the eighth anniversary of the first transfers to Guantaacute;namo, the organisations urged other countries, including Germany, Finland, Sweden and Luxembourg to do more to aid the transfer of roughly 50 such men who remain trapped after years of unlawful detention. br / br / ldquo;Although several countries have already led the way, it is disappointing that only a few European governments have stepped forward to help those in need of protection,rdquo; said Sharon Critoph, Campaigner on the US at Amnesty International ldquo;Amongst those governments which have failed to assist are those previously most vocal in calling for Guantaacute;namo to be closed.rdquo; br / br / Reprieve, the Center for Constitutional Rights and former Guantaacute;namo detainee Moazzam Begg of the organization Cage Prisoners are today beginning a tour across Europe urging more states to offer the men a safe haven. The tour will be hosted by Amnesty Internationalrsquo;s national sections. br / br / These men remain detained for the sole reason that they have no safe place to go. They have been essentially abandoned at Guantaacute;namo. The plight of these men poses one of the most significant obstacles to the closure of the detention centre. br / br / A number of European states have already taken the commendable step of offering a safe haven to such detainees, in line with the stated aims of the EU-US joint agreement on the closure of Guantaacute;namo. These include France, Ireland, Portugal, Hungary and Belgium.On this important anniversary, human rights groups are urging others to follow suit. br / br / The men come from countries such as Libya, Tunisia, Syria, China and Russia, where they will be at serious risk of torture or other human rights violations if returned.nbsp; nbsp;br / br / The US government has been seeking safe countries willing to offer these men an opportunity to rebuild their lives and is primarily responsible for finding solutions for all those held at Guantaacute;namo. br / br / The international community which has repeatedly called for the detention centrersquo;s closure can however help in realizing this aim by offering a safe haven to some of these men. br / br / Guantaacute;namo remains a stark symbol of injustice.nbsp; Human rights groups have expressed concern that the detention facility will remain open past 22 January 2010, the date by which US President Barack Obama had pledged to close it.nbsp; Unless more European countries step forward now to help, some of the most vulnerable detainees remain at serious risk of forcible return to abuse. br / br / ''The last decade saw the erosion of the rule of law and international respect for human rights. Guantaacute;namo stands for all that went wrong and it must now be closedrsquo;rsquo; said Sophie Weller of the Center for Constitutional Rights.lsquo;lsquo;The men who remain detained because they lack a safe haven continue, every day to pay the human price for delay and inaction in achieving this aim.rdquo; br / br / ldquo;Many European governments have condemned the ongoing detention of prisoners at Guantaacute;namo Bay. Now they can do something about it,rdquo; said Clive Stafford Smith, Director of Reprieve. ldquo;Actions really do speak louder than words in this case; its time to turn the rhetoric into reality and get Guantaacute;namo closed as soon as possible.rdquo; br / br / Background information br / The human rights organisations welcomed the actions of those countries which have already come forward to assist ndash; such as France, Ireland, Portugal, Belgium, Hungary - but expressed disappointment that others had not taken concrete steps in line with the EU-US Joint Statement on the Closure of Guantaacute;namo Bay. The statement, issued on 16 June 2009, expressed the readiness of certain EU Member States to assist with the reception of former detainees on a case-by-case basis. br / br / Nearly seven months since this statement was issued, only seven former detainees have been welcomed into Europe as free men. A further ten have been sent to Palau and Bermuda, and two have been transferred to Italy for possible trial. Approximately 50 more still need protection.nbsp; nbsp;br / br / The tour will include visits to a number of European countries - including Luxembourg, Sweden and Germany - which could provide safe and appropriate reception for detainees from Guantaacute;namo, giving them the chance to rebuild their lives. br / br / The organizations will also be calling on government officials in countries which have already accepted detainees to share expertise, encouragement and examples of good practice with their counterparts in countries which may be considering following suit. br / br / There are 198 prisoners in total still held in Guantaacute;namo.