Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05GENEVA2630
2005-10-31 08:09:00
UNCLASSIFIED
US Mission Geneva
Cable title:  

COMMUNICATION FROM THE FIVE SRS REGARDING

Tags:  PHUM UNHRC 
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 GENEVA 002630 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR IO/SHA, DRL/MLA, L/HRR

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM UNHRC
SUBJECT: COMMUNICATION FROM THE FIVE SRS REGARDING
INVITATION TO GUANTANAMO AND A PRESS RELEASE

REF: GENEVA 2552 and previous

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 GENEVA 002630

SIPDIS

STATE FOR IO/SHA, DRL/MLA, L/HRR

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM UNHRC
SUBJECT: COMMUNICATION FROM THE FIVE SRS REGARDING
INVITATION TO GUANTANAMO AND A PRESS RELEASE

REF: GENEVA 2552 and previous


1. Mission received the following communication from the
five Special Rapporteurs regarding the invitation to visit
Guantanamo that was extended to Mr. Nowak, Ms. Zerrogui and
Ms. Jahangir. The letter and the attachments have been e-
mailed to IO/SHA and this communication will be included on
#10 on the 2005 correspondence log.


2. Begin text of letter:

31 October 2005

Excellency,

We have the honour to write to you in our respective
capacities as Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Chairperson-
Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention,
Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment
of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental
health, Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and
lawyers, and Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or
belief.

As you will recall, for four years, since November 2001, a
number of special procedures mandate holders have been
engaged in a dialogue with your Government regarding the
situation of suspected terrorists held in Guantanamo Bay
Naval Station, Cuba, and other detention facilities. In June
2004, the Annual meeting of special
rapporteurs/representatives, experts and chairpersons of
working groups of the special procedures and the advisory
services programme of the Commission on Human Rights
requested us to join our efforts and to continue the
dialogue with your Government as a group because the
situation under consideration falls under the scope of more
than one mandate.

In June 2005, we decided to undertake, within the capacities
of our respective mandates, a joint study to determine the
situation of detainees in Guantanamo Bay. We have
subsequently embarked on a study on the applicability of
international human rights law to detention in Guantanamo
Bay and on the legal aspects related to this situation. We
have also started gathering factual information by various
means and will be carrying out interviews with former
detainees currently residing in a number of countries.

We were very pleased to have the opportunity to meet
Ambassador Michael Kozak, and his colleagues, on Friday 28
October to further discuss our request to visit the
detention facilities and detainees held at Guantanamo Bay.

At this meeting, we were especially gratified to learn of

your Government's invitation to Mr. Manfred Nowak, Ms. Leila
Zerrougui and Ms. Asma Jahangir to visit the facilities in
the near future (see the letters of 27th October 2005 from
Matthew Waxman, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for
Detainee Affairs). While noting that almost four years have
passed since the first request to visit Guantanamo Bay,
which was made by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention
in early 2002, we very much welcome your Government's
invitation to visit the detention facilities in the near
future. We also very much appreciate Ambassador's Kozak's
assurances of your Government's further cooperation as we
prepare our joint report for submission to the Commission on
Human Rights.

We regret, however, that, despite the terms of our request,
your Government's invitation extends to neither Paul Hunt
nor Leandro Despouy. We wish to emphasise that their
mandates are integral elements of our joint investigation
and their exclusion from your Government's invitation will
limit the effectiveness of our joint study.

During our meeting with Ambassador Kozak and his colleagues,
we were informed that the visit to Guantanamo Bay could last
no longer than one day. In our view, this might be shorter
than is necessary for the mandate holders to conduct all the
investigations that they wish to make.

Nonetheless, we are all resolved to advance this matter in a
constructive and cooperative spirit.

Accordingly, we are pleased to accept the invitation
extended to the three mandate holders and confirm that they
are immediately beginning to prepare for their visit in
accordance with the standard "Terms of Reference for Fact-
finding missions by Special Procedures".

As you may recall, these Terms apply to all Special
Procedures' missions to States, including their detention
facilities. For your convenience, we attach a copy of these
Terms of Reference and note in particular paragraph (b) with
its requirement of freedom of inquiry, including:

"(iv) Confidential and unsupervised contact with witnesses
and other private persons, including persons deprived of
their liberty".

We are aware that, according to the letters of 27 October,
the visit to Guantanamo Bay "will not include private
interviews or visits with detainees." However, we can find
no justification for waiving the requirement of (b)(iv) in
relation to the forthcoming visit. Moreover, we have no
doubt that if we were to dispense with this requirement in
relation to our current investigation, this would have
serious negative implications, not only for our present
inquiry, but also for investigations that will be conducted
by special procedures in relation to other countries in the
future.

We are confident you will understand that the integrity and
credibility of all special procedures demands that the same
standard of unfettered access to detainees is applied to all
States, without exception.

On 28th October, Ambassador Kozak and his team invited us to
provide a date when the relevant mandate holders could visit
Guantanamo Bay. Given their existing commitments, they are
in a position to undertake the mission on 6th December 2005.

We would be grateful if your Government confirmed as soon as
possible whether or not this is a convenient date for the
mission to take place, subject to the standard Terms of
Reference.

Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of our highest
consideration.

Leila Zerrougui
Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary
Detention

Paul Hunt
Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment
of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental
health

Leandro Despouy
Special Rapporteur on independence of judges and lawyers

Asma Jahangir
Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief

Manfred Nowak
Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment

End text of letter.


3. Begin text of press release:

UNITED NATIONS
Press Release GUANTANAMO BAY DETAINEES
UN human rights experts respond to US invitation
31 October 2005

The following statement was issued today by the following
five independent experts of the United Nations Commission on
Human Rights who are undertaking a joint study on the
situation of detainees in Guantanamo Bay.

The independent experts are:

Leandro Despouy. Special Rapporteur on the independence of
judges and lawyers

Paul Hunt Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the
enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and
mental health

Asma Jahangir Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or
belief

Manfred Nowak Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment

Leila Zerrougui. Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group
on Arbitrary Detention

"We welcome the letters of invitation extended to three
special procedures on 27 October 2005 by the United States
Department of Defense to visit the Department's detention
facilities at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station, Cuba.

This invitation is the first tangible result of almost four
years of dialogue between the special procedures of the
United Nations Commission on Human Rights and the US
Government.

While we appreciate the willingness of the US Government to
invite three of us, Asma Jahangir, Manfred Nowak and Leila
Zerrougui, we deeply regret that similar invitations were
not extended to Leandro Despouy and Paul Hunt, that the
visit to Guantanamo Bay Naval Station is limited to one day
and that private interviews or visits with detainees are
explicitly excluded.

We have carefully considered the invitation and decided to
accept it on the following basis. In a spirit of cooperation
we accept the short duration of the visit and the fact that
only three of us will be permitted to visit the facilities.
However, we cannot accept the exclusion of private
interviews with detainees as this would not only contravene
the Terms of Reference for Fact-finding missions by Special
Procedures but also undermine the purpose of an objective
and fair assessment of the situation of detainees held at
the Guantanamo Bay.

We are confident that the US Government, which attaches
great importance to the principles of independent and
objective fact finding, will understand our position. We
have decided that Asma Jahangir, Manfred Nowak and Leila
Zerrougui will visit Guantanamo Bay provided that they will
have free access to all detainees and the opportunity to
carry out private interviews with them. The date envisaged
for the visit is 6 December 2005.

Chronology of Requests for Visits regarding detainees at
Guantanamo Bay and other locations

Since November 2001, a number of special procedures mandate
holders have been engaged in a dialogue with the United
States Government regarding the situation of detainees held
in Guantanamo Bay. In June 2004 we joined our efforts and
decided to continue the dialogue with the US Government as a
group because the situation under consideration falls under
the scope of more than one mandate. Accordingly, on 25 June
2004, we sent a letter requesting to visit "those persons
arrested, detained or tried on grounds of alleged terrorism
or other violations, in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Guantanamo
Bay military base and elsewhere". Subsequent reminders
focusing on a visit to Guantanamo Bay -were sent on 22
November 2004, 21 April 2005 and 31 May 2005 respectively.

By letters dated 9 November 2004 and 20 May 2005 and in a
briefing with the US delegation to the Commission on Human
Rights, held on 4 April 2005 in Geneva, the United States of
America responded by saying that the request "continued to
be the subject of intense review and consideration" and that
it "has received serious attention and is being discussed at
the highest levels of the U.S. Government".

On 23 June 2005, we announced publicly at a joint press
conference that, in the absence of a reply, we will join our
efforts to undertake, within our capacities of our
respective mandates, a study to determine the situation of
detainees in Guantanamo Bay. We have subsequently embarked
on a study on the applicability of international human
rights law to detention in Guantanamo and on the legal
aspects related to this situation. We have also begun
gathering factual information by various means and we will
be carrying out interviews with former detainees currently
residing in a number of countries. By letter dated 21
October 2005, we received a detailed response from the US
Government to the questionnaire that was submitted by us on
8 August 2005.

On 26 and 28 October, we had further meetings in New York
City with US officials from the Defense and State
Departments. At the second meeting, we were provided with
the three letters of invitation and assurances that the US
Government will continue its cooperation with the five
independent experts involved in the joint study.

End text of press release.

MOLEY