Regarding Guantanamo:

From UN to US: “…cease the rendition of suspects; cease to detain any person at Guantánamo Bay and close this detention facility; take immediate measures to eradicate all forms of torture …”

The United Nations Committee Against Torture released its final report on the actions of America at home and abroad, in the context of the ‘war on terrorism.’ The recommendations of the Committee are unambiguous, and they run contrary to the US position.

Among other things, the Committee has recommended that the US should:

• Enact a federal crime of torture consistent with Article 1 of the Convention Against Torture (including psychological torture);
• Recognize that the Convention Against Torture applies at all times, and in all contexts;
• Ensure that no one is secretly detained – and disclose the location of any existing secret detention facilities;
• Investigate and prosecute any violations of the Convention Against Torture, be they related to the practices of interrogators or the orders of authority figures;
• Cease to detain any person at Guantanamo Bay and close this detention facility;
• Give detainees access to a judicial process or release them;
• Stop using sexual humiliation, water boarding, short shackling, dog exposure, and other acts that constitute torture or cruel, human, or degrading treatment;
• Review national penal practices, specifically execution and supermax imprisonment policies and conditions.
• And respond to core recommendations within one year.
  
  This report represents the latest and perhaps the strongest in a series of recent criticisms of US detention policy, including calls for the closing of the Guantanamo from the UK Attorney General and Amnesty International.
  
  Of particular interest is recommendation 14, which reads:
  
  14. The Committee regrets the State party’s opinion that the Convention is not applicable in times and in the context of armed conflict, on the basis of the argument that the “law of armed conflict” is the exclusive lex specialis applicable, and that the Convention’s application “would result in an overlap of the different treaties which would undermine the objective of eradicating torture”. (articles 1 and 16)
  
  The State party should recognize and ensure that the Convention applies at all times, whether in peace, war or armed conflict, in any territory under its jurisdiction and that the application of the Convention’s provisions are without prejudice to the provisions of any other international instrument, pursuant to paragraph 2 of its articles 1 and 16.
  
  In essence, this argument – and others like it throughout the report – rejects the idea of a ‘new normalcy’ in the rules of armed conflict. It proposes that, despite the nature of the American ‘war on terror,’ it is unreasonable to create legal exemptions to the Convention Against Torture, and to the rules governing the detention of prisoners.
  
  Also on the topic of Guantanamo, reports indicate that there was a clash between detainees and guards at the facility today, allegedly stemming from actions taken by guards to prevent a suicide attempt (using prescription drugs). The BBC reports that detainees used improvised weapons to attack guards, and that the ‘disturbance was quelled with minimum force.’ Six inmates were injured. Today’s events are said by the US military to represent the largest act of resistance by detainees since the inception of the facility. CBC’s description of the confrontation describes a coordinated plan by detainees to lure guards into a trap.

- Mike L