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U.S. Rejects U.N. Rights Panel's Probing of Guantanamo, War on Terror
Bradley S. Klapper
Associated Press
July 7, 2006
GENEVA (AP) - The United States maintains it has to respect a major human rights treaty only inside its borders, rejecting questions by a United Nations body on its record in places like Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
In a report filed to the U.N. Human Rights Committee and posted on the body's Web site, Washington said its treatment of detainees in Afghanistan, Guantanamo, Iraq and "other places of detention outside the United States of America" falls outside the scope of a 40-year-old treaty guaranteeing everyone civil and political rights.
"The legal status and treatment of such persons is governed by the law of war," the U.S. said in a 120-page report to the committee, 18 independent experts who review the practices of the 149 countries who have ratified the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Washington's turn before the committee will come later this month, with issues ranging from U.S. treatment of detainees in the war on terror to domestic concerns including racism, the death penalty and abortion.
The committee is separate from the U.N.'s top anti-torture panel, which in May recommended the closure of the U.S. detention center for terror suspects at Guantanamo and criticized alleged U.S. use of secret prisons and suspected rendition of prisoners to foreign countries for questioning.
The committee, whose first hearing with American officials will take place July 17, is asking a number of similar questions regarding Washington's counterterrorism efforts, singling out interrogation methods involving hooding, stress positions, mock drownings, the forced removal of religious attire and use of dogs.
Advocacy groups also have been presenting their views to the panel.
"Since Sept. 11, 2001, tens of thousands of people have been detained in U.S. facilities in Afghanistan, Iraq, GuantanamoBay in Cuba, and other undisclosed locations, many held for prolonged periods incommunicado and without access to families, lawyers or the courts," Amnesty International said, maintaining that the policy violates the treaty.
The American Civil Liberties Union said the U.S. assertion that the treaty applies only within the United States means Washington is "claiming immunity for treaty violations by the U.S. military and the CIA in territories under U.S. control such as Iraq, Afghanistan and GuantanamoBay.
"This position is inconsistent with the terms and purpose of the (covenant) and violates core principles such as the absolute prohibition on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment," ACLU said in a 117-page report to the committee.
The rights panel also will inquire into the compatibility of the Patriot Act with the United States' obligations under international law and the legality of the National Security Agency's alleged monitoring of phone conversations, E-mail and fax communications of individuals both within and outside U.S. borders.
"Congress passed the USA Patriot Act primarily to provide federal prosecutors and investigators with the critical tools needed to fight and win the war against terrorism," the U.S. said in its report, adding that it "has yielded extraordinary dividends" such as the dismantling of terror cells in Oregon, New York and Virginia.
"This authority is directed to the problem of terrorists who seek to avoid surveillance by frequently changing telephones, and allows foreign intelligence investigators in certain specified circumstances to obtain from a federal court a wiretap order that permits surveillance of a specified person rather than a specific phone," the report said. "There have been no verified abuses of this authority."
The United Nations' recent focus on Washington's rights record is a result of U.S. tardiness in submitting reports and not a new policy direction from panels tied to the global body.
The United States, like the other 148 countries who have ratified the covenant, must submit periodic reports with the committee detailing its compliance. Its 120-page report was filed almost seven years late. Its submission to the anti-torture body was four years behind schedule.
Reviews by U.N. bodies of American policy in previous years rarely attracted attention, but they have become much more noticeable within the larger debate over U.S. practices in the war on terror. Criticism by the panel brings no penalties beyond international scrutiny. The committee is expected to issue conclusions when it wraps up its session July 28.
The U.S. ratified the treaty in 1992 with a number of reservations and its own interpretations of the text, such as sections dealing with the death penalty.
Washington 's team at the hearing will be headed by the State Department's chief legal adviser John B. Bellinger III. Officials from the Justice and Defense departments also are expected to attend.
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