Guantanamo Bay: A Violation of Human Rights & International Law

Guantanamo Bay: A Violation of Human Rights & International Law

Background Pt I: What is Guantanamo Bay? 

Guantanamo Bay is a highly militarized detention center in Cuba, described by the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) as a “symbol of injustice, abuse, and disregard for the rule of law” both “at home and around the world” and Amnesty International as a “symbol of a government’s failure to respect its international human rights obligations” (USA: Right the Wrong, 2). The prison was established in 2002 by the Bush administration as part of the war on terror in response to the 9/11 attacks and is known for its use of both psychological and physical torture along with coerced confessions. It is also known for escaping the law and denying detainees of their basic human rights. In The International and Comparative Law Quarterly, attorney Johan Steyn states that “the purpose of holding the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay was and is to put them beyond the rule of law, beyond the protection of any courts, and at the mercy of the victors. The procedural rules do not prohibit the use of force to coerce prisoners to confess” (8). The lack of justice Steyn refers to at Guantanamo Bay represents a human rights crisis and has received significant international attention as a result. It has also raised questions as to what a democracy really means.

• Background Pt II: What is the war on terror?

• According to Brown University’s Costs of War project, the war on terror has cost the United States around eight-trillion-dollars and over 900,000 people. One of its main objectives was to minimize the threat of terrorism in the Middle East and all around the world. It has been emphasized in the news in the past few months because of the United States withdraw of troops from Afghanistan and the takeover of the Taliban.

Putting it in Perspective Part I: An Individual's Story (from the New York Times)

Mohamedou Ould Slahi

Mohamedou Ould Slahi was tortured in Guantanamo Bay in the year of 2003. He faced isolation, abuse from both guards and attack dogs, sleep deprivation, and threats from interrogators. He is now fifty-years-old and free in his homeland of Mauritania after spending almost fifteen years as a detainee. He explains that during his time in the prison he was “very naïve” and “did not understand how America works.” He now has a successful memoir and stated “I wholeheartedly forgive everyone who wronged me during my detention. I forgive because forgiveness is my inexhaustible resource.” Despite the seemingly hopeful aspect to his story and his survival, he may never recover from what he endured at Guantanamo, as he exhibits multiple signs of PTSD.

Putting it in Perspective Part II: International Obligations & the Law

United Nations: The United Nations has made it clear they do not support the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, as it violates both human rights and international law. Below are some key quotes from their experts.

• "We welcome the goal of closing the detention facility, consistent with our previous calls to end impunity for the human rights and humanitarian law violations committed during the war on terror.”

• “Democracies can and should do better, and the United States must clearly put this dark chapter in its history behind it and demonstrate that it is not only prepared to close the prison facilities but ensure that such practices cannot be used again, and that the crimes committed there will not remain unpunished."

• "Many of the individuals currently and previously held at Guantanamo Bay have spent the bulk of their lives in a Kafkaesque situation where the rule of the law was meaningless."

Amnesty International: Amnesty International has published a 52-page report about the wrongdoings and injustices that have been occurring at Guantanamo Bay. Below are some key quotes from the report.

• “Those still held in Guantánamo today were originally detained by authorities in Afghanistan, Djibouti, Egypt, Georgia, Kenya, Iran, Pakistan, Thailand, Turkey, and United Arab Emirates. As far as Amnesty International is aware, none had access to any judicial oversight before being handed over to US custody."

• “After a period in the USA in which many pressing social, environmental and justice issues have been set back, the Biden administration’s plate will undoubtedly be full. But not so full as to be unable to prioritize and resource closure of Guantánamo, to promptly begin to work for a lawful resolution of each detainee case, and to commit to a new and full respect by the USA for international human rights law.”

• “While not all differential treatment between citizens and non-citizens violates international law, it does if it comes, as here, at the expense of rights reflected in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and other international instruments binding on the USA.”

Conclusion: A Human Rights Crisis  

The treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay is a breach of international human rights law and represents a broader human rights crisis. The use of torture at Guantanamo is unacceptable, and demonstrates an incredibly flawed system of justice, in which justice is not truly served. Change needs to occur. International along with domestic pressure to end Guantanamo Bay has been present for years, and while past United States presidents have failed in terminating Guantanamo, it will be notable to see what will happen in the current era, and how Guantanamo will make history. In their report, Amnesty International lists a series of suggestions to the Biden administration with reference to international law:

“Commit to an assessment of the USA’s relationship to international law, and to accepting all outstanding recommendations made to it by the independent expert monitoring bodies established under human rights treaties” (48).

Will the Biden administration finally end Guantanamo Bay, and what will this mean in terms of the real-world significance of democracy?

Works Cited 

Brown University. “Costs of War.” Watson Institute of International & Public Affairs. https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/.

Rosenberg, Carol. “The Legacy of America's Post-9/11 Turn to Torture.” The New York Times. The New York Times, September 12, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/12/us/politics/torture-post-9-11.html?searchResultPosition=8.

Steyn, Johan. “Guantanamo Bay: The Legal Black Hole.” The International and Comparative

Law Quarterly 53, no. 1 (2004): 1–15. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3663134.

“UN Rights Experts Call for Us to Address Ongoing Violations at 'Kafkaesque' Guantánamo Military Prison | | UN News.” United Nations. United Nations. Accessed October 5, 2021. https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/02/1085492.

“USA: Right the Wrong: Decision Time on Guantánamo.” Amnesty International, June 6, 2021. https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr51/3474/2021/en/.