1.

U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS EXPERTS RESPOND TO INVITATION FROM UNITED STATES TO VISIT DETENTION FACILITIES IN GUANTANAMO BAY
October 31, 2005

--For use of the information media; not an official record

The following statement was issued today by five independent experts of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights who are undertaking a joint study on the situation of detainees in Guantanamo Bay. The independent experts are Leandro Despouy, Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers; Paul Hunt, Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health; Asma Jahangir, Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief; Manfred Nowak, Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; and Leila Zerrougui, Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group on arbitrary detention.

"We welcome the letters of invitation extended to three special procedures on 27 October 2005 by the United States Department of Defense to visit the Department's detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station, Cuba.

This invitation is the first tangible result of almost four years of dialogue between the special procedures of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and the United States Government.

While we appreciate the willingness of the United States Government to invite three of us, Asma Jahangir, Manfred Nowak and Leila Zerrougui, we deeply regret that similar invitations were not extended to Leandro Despouy and Paul Hunt, that the visit to Guantanamo Bay Naval Station is limited to one day and that private interviews or visits with detainees are explicitly excluded.

We have carefully considered the invitation and decided to accept it on the following basis. In a spirit of cooperation we accept the short duration of the visit and the fact that only three of us will be permitted to visit the facilities. However, we cannot accept the exclusion of private interviews with detainees as this would not only contravene the Terms of Reference for Fact-finding missions by Special Procedures but also undermine the purpose of an objective and fair assessment of the situation of detainees held in Guantanamo Bay.

We are confident that the United States Government, which attaches great importance to the principles of independent and objective fact-finding, will understand our position. We have decided that Asma Jahangir, Manfred Nowak, and Leila Zerrougui will visit Guantanamo Bay provided that they will have free access to all detainees and the opportunity to carry out private interviews with them. The date envisaged for the visit is 6 December 2005.

Chronology of Requests for Visits Regarding Detainees at Guantanamo Bay and Other Locations

Since November 2001, a number of special procedures mandate holders have been engaged in a dialogue with the United States Government regarding the situation of detainees held in Guantanamo Bay. In June 2004, we joined our efforts and decided to continue the dialogue with the United States Government as a group because the situation under consideration falls under the scope of more than one mandate. Accordingly, on 25 June 2004, we sent a letter requesting to visit "those persons arrested, detained, or tried on grounds of alleged terrorism or other violations, in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Guantanamo Bay military base, and elsewhere." Subsequent reminders focusing on a visit to Guantanamo Bay were sent on 22 November 2004, 21 April 2005 and 31 May 2005 respectively.

By letters dated 9 November 2004 and 20 May 2005 and in a briefing with the United States delegation to the Commission on Human Rights, held on 4 April 2005 in Geneva, the United States of America responded by saying that the request "continued to be the subject of intense review and consideration" and that it "has received serious attention and is being discussed at the highest levels of the United States Government".

On 23 June 2005, we announced publicly at a joint press conference that, in the absence of a reply, we will join our efforts to undertake, within our capacities of our respective mandates, a study to determine the situation of detainees in Guantanamo Bay. We have subsequently embarked on a study on the applicability of international human rights law to detention in Guatanamo and on the legal aspects related to this situation. We have also begun gathering factual information by various means and we will be carrying out interviews with former detainees currently residing in a number of countries. By letter dated 21 October 2005, we received a detailed response from the United States Government to the questionnaire that was submitted by us on 8 August 2005.

On 26 and 28 October, we had further meetings in New York City with United States officials from the Defense and State Departments. At the second meeting, we were provided with the three letters of invitation and assurances that the United States Government will continue its cooperation with the five independent experts involved in the joint study".

2.

U.S. INVITES U.N. TORTURE INVESTIGATOR TO GUANTANAMO
By Will Dunham

Reuters
October 31, 2005

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L31235681.htm

WASHINGTON -- The United States on Friday invited three U.N. human rights investigators, including the one who examines torture allegations, to visit the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in a bid to show "we have nothing to hide."

Human rights activists have criticized the United States for the indefinite detention of the roughly 505 detainees being held at the prison for foreign terrorism suspects at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The Pentagon said the three would be permitted to observe operations at Guantanamo "and ask questions of the command, staff and U.S. officials who would accompany them."

But Lt. Col. Mark Ballesteros, a Pentagon spokesman on detainee issues, said they would not be allowed to speak to detainees because that was the role of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

The Pentagon said the invitations were extended to Austria's Manfred Nowak, special investigator for the United Nations on torture, Pakistan's Asma Jahangir, who focuses on religious freedom, and Algeria's Leila Zerrougui, who looks into arbitrary detention.

"This goes to our desire to show that we have nothing to hide," Ballesteros said.

U.N. investigators previously had sought to visit the facility. U.N. spokesman Ari Gaitanis said the world body had not immediately received word from its Geneva offices as to whether the three investigators would accept the invitation.

"Although department policy does not provide for such visits to military detention facilities, the department has determined on an exceptional basis to extend this invitation," the Pentagon said in a statement. "The department strives for transparency in our operation to the extent possible in light of security and operational requirements and the need to ensure the safety of our forces."

Criticism by human rights groups has escalated in recent weeks with the U.S. military's disclosure that it was force-feeding Guantanamo detainees staging an ongoing hunger strike over their conditions and lack of legal rights.

The Pentagon has defended its treatment of prisoners and denied that torture has occurred at the Guantanamo facility, which opened in January 2002, just months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. Most of the detainees were seized in Afghanistan.

Men who have been released from Guantanamo have stated they were tortured there . The ICRC last year accused the U.S. military of using tactics "tantamount to torture" on Guantanamo prisoners. An FBI agent wrote in a memo that became public last year that Pentagon interrogators used "torture techniques" at Guantanamo.

The United States has classified the detainees as "enemy combatants" and denied them rights accorded to prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions. Only four detainees have been charged with crimes.