Exploring the issue of human rights violations at Guantanamo Bay
Overview
The Guantanamo Bay Naval Base is located in the southeast Cuba. It has been used by the U.S. Navy for over a century and since July 2001 it is also being used as an American military prison – the Guantanamo Bay Detainment Camp. It is used primarily as a confinement facility for military combatants captured in Afghanistan and Iraq, suspected of being Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives.
The U.S. controls the land under a lease signed at the end of the Spanish-American war (1898), although the Cuban government denounces the lease, relying on the Vienna Convention (1969) which voids treaties procured by force./P>
Prior to July 2006, the U.S. made sure that the prisoners confined within the base are not protected under the Geneva Convention since they are considered as “enemy combatants” and not as “prisoners of war” (POWs). This definition enables the government to deny the prisoners the rights guaranteed to POWs. A U.S. court partially agreed with this classification, thus ruling that the Geneva Convention applies only to Taliban fighters and no to Al Qaeda terrorists.
The U.S. government has also argued that U.S. courts have no jurisdiction to the legality of the prisoners since Guantanamo Bay is ultimately under Cuban sovereignty. Nonetheless the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the prisoners in Guantanamo Bay do have access to American courts and can argue their cases in court.
Criticism
The Guantanamo Bay Detainment Camp and the Bush Administration have drawn worldwide criticism for imprisoning detainees without trial. Moreover, there has been dozens of allegations of torture, including beatings, the use of “truth drugs”, and religious prosecution in the premises. Many minors have been put in the adult section of the prison, in violation of international law. Although the U.S. reports to the UN Committee Against Torture, it denies these allegations.
Amnesty International (AI) and the UN have called the situation in Guantanamo Bay a “human rights scandal”, and have tried calling the U.S. to either bring the detainees to trial or to release them. On June 2006 the European Parliament voted in favor of a motion urging the U.S. to close down the camp.
Main problems that need to be solved
• Fair trial VS military commission hearings – The Bush Administration has tried to utilize military commission hearings although the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled this act unconstitutional and albeit the strong opposition from countries worldwide, the UN and different NGOs.
• The allegations of torture - How can it be stopped?
• The legal status of the prisoners- Are the prisoners considered "enemy combatants" (and then are denied the rights as per the Geneva Convention) or are they POWs.
Links
http://www.bookrags.com/wiki/Guantanamo_Bay_detainment_camp
Amnesty International fact sheets - http://web.amnesty.org/pages/guantanamobay-factsheets-eng
