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1 de August de 2013 Press Release

Inter-American Commission expands precautionary measures for Guantánamo detainees

Washington, DC, July 31, 2013.- The Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL) and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) applaud the decision taken, on its own initiative, by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR, Commission) on July 23, 2013, to order the United States to expand the scope of the precautionary measures to safeguard the life and integrity of the 166 men detained in the US detention center in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

 

The IACHR first ordered precautionary measures to prevent irreparable harm to the men detained in Guantánamo in 2002, and since then has issued two Resolutions calling on the United States to close the detention center without delay. This extension comes after CEJIL and CCR reported on the urgent and serious situation facing the men in Guantánamo in their March 2013 thematic hearing. In this hearing, the Commission heard about the non-compliance of the United States with the precautionary measures already in force and the irreparable harm that the passage of time was causing to the detainees held without trial or release. Since then, the IACHR has requested information from the US government about the unnecessary and humiliating searches, the force-feeding of detainees who have chosen to participate in a hunger strike, and the increasing segregation and isolation of detainees. Similar requests to the US government were made by an IACHR-UN Joint Declaration issued on May 1, 2013.

 

On its July 23rd extension of the precautionary measures, the IACHR took into account the human rights obligations of the United States as a Member State of the OAS, and the ongoing risk of irreparable harm to the rights of detainees that is aggravated with the passage of time, and decided to order the United States:

 

  1. To proceed to immediately close the detention facilities at the Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay;
  2. The detainees should be transferred to home or third countries in observance of human rights guarantees, including the obligation not to return them to places where they would be subject to torture, ill-treatment or persecution;
  3. The release of those who have already been cleared for transfer should be expedited; and
  4. Any detainees subject to trial should be housed in appropriate conditions and accorded applicable due process rights.

 

The IACHR is not only overviewing the situation in Guantánamo Bay through precautionary measures. In 2012, the IACHR declared admissible the landmark case of Djamel Ameziane, a client represented by CEJIL and CCR who has been detained in Guantánamo without charge since 2002 and was cleared for release in 2008. This ruling marks the first time the IACHR has accepted jurisdiction over the case of a man detained at Guantánamo, and underscores the fact that there has been no effective domestic remedy available to victims of unjust detention and other abuses at the base.

 

CEJIL and CCR call the United States to take specific steps to close the detention center without further delay, safely transfer detainees home or to third countries, and ensure detainees have effective access to justice, all in accordance with international standards that require respect for personal autonomy and dignity, in compliance with the IACHR’s decision.

 

Contact information

 

The Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL)

Francisco Quintana,

Program Director for the Andean, North America and Caribbean Region

[email protected]

202-319-3000

Useful links:

  • IACHR Precautionary Measures (259/13) – Detainees in the US Military Base in Guantanamo – EXTENSION
  • Precautionary Measure 259/02 – Detainees being held by the United States at Guantánamo Bay
  • UN and IACHR Joint Public Statement – on the “need to end the indefinite detention of individuals at Guantánamo Naval Base in light of current human rights crisis”
  • Resolution 2/11 – Regarding the Situation of the Detainees at Guantánamo Bay, United States, Precautionary Measures 259-02