UN rapporteur urges US to ensure accountability for Guantanamo violations

By Firdevs Bulut Kartal

TORONTO (AA) - Fionnuala Ni Aolain, the UN special rapporteur on Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism, called on the US to ensure accountability for all violations at Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.

"US government must ensure accountability for all violations of international law, both for victims of its counterterrorism practices present and former detainees and victims of terrorism," she told reporters at the UN while unveiling a report about her technical visit to the notorious US-run facility.

"I underscore the importance of apology, full remedy, reparation, and guarantees of non-repetition to all victims and these guarantees will be no less pressing in the years ahead," she said.

Ni Aolain has become the first person to make a technical visit to the prison, where the US detained hundreds of people on terrorism charges following the Sept. 11 attacks.

Noting that Guantanamo was accessed for the first time despite previous requests, Ni Aolain thanked the Biden administration for its cooperation.

- 'We were too late'

Ni Aolain had the opportunity to meet with both current detainees at Guantanamo and individuals who had been previously released.

Regarding their perspectives, Ni Aolain shared that "they all said we were too late".

While acknowledging some improvements in the conditions at Guantanamo, Ni Aolain expressed her "serious concerns" regarding the ongoing detention of 30 men and "the persistent arbitrariness" that dominates their daily lives.

"My report details structural shortcomings, and systematic arbitrariness including in training, operating procedures, and the fulfillment of detainees' rights to health care, family council and justice," she said.

After two decades of custody, the suffering of those detained is "profound", and it is ongoing, she said, emphasizing that this arbitrariness causes suffering.

Stating that the detainees' past torture experiences still live with them today, Ni Aolain said that they could not receive any treatment in this regard.

The practices at Guantanamo have had a profound impact on the dignity, fundamental rights and freedoms of detainees, and amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in the context of international law, she assessed.

- Closure of Guantanamo a 'priority'

The UN rapporteur also called for the closure of the Guantanamo prison and emphasized the political challenges that lie ahead in achieving this goal.

"I think closure remains a priority. But I also recognize that there are complexities and political challenges ahead in closing this detention facility," she said.

"Guantanamo Bay remains a place of stigma both individually but also collectively," and that there are issues for which the US government should be held accountable in this regard, she added.

"Breaching fundamental human rights does not make us safer. It has never made us more secure and consistent violations, including torture or condition, create, in my view, the conditions conducive to further violence," she said.

- Guantanamo prison

The US withdrew its military forces from Afghanistan in August 2021, but still uses Cuba's military prison in Guantanamo Bay to hold terrorist suspects captured in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. The prison was opened 21 years ago and has held 780 detainees to date.

Most of the people detained in Guantanamo are held there without charges or trial.

There are currently 30 detainees at Guantanamo.

*Serife Cetin contributed to this story in New York