THE , Inhuman and degrading treatments of

THE , Inhuman and degrading treatments of

THE HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUE OF GUANTANAMO BAY Human rights are the rights that everybody inherently possess. These rights are protected by various legal principals such as the rules of law and ensure the dignity of all people.

However, human rights are being violated by countries all over the world, even by countries such as the United States who have the national strategy. It has been breaching international covenants and conventions on human rights with their terrorist detention camp at Guantanamo Bay.Guantanamo Bay is an American Navel base used to permanently incapacitate approximately 660 detainees from 40 nations, including children. Because the base is located on Cuban territory , the prisoners are not protected by the American constitution or judiciary “ it is the obligation of the Judicial Branch to make sure the preservation of our constitutional values”. These prisoners are held at the detention center in “ legal limbo, with no access to lawyers or families”.And they are kept to isolate for 24 hours a day , little outdoor exercise and there was no interaction with other prisoners. Badly, prisoners are interrogated for long hours at a time and it is commonly speculated subject to torture.

Then, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is the only non- government organization allowed access to the prisoners. And the ICRC is worried about the psychological impacts that the prison is inflicting on inmates.Against the verdicts, the prisoners have no rights to appeal which is a requirement of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The United States government can not create unfair commissions administered by the executive with the power to hand down death sentences to suit their current requirements. The situation at Guantanamo Bay directly violates various international treats and covenants including the Geneva Convention and the ICCPR.Human rights violations are allowed to occur because the international community is incapable of punishing or enforcing violations. This problem with international law is predominantly due to state sovereignty.

I think no other nation or organization has authority to interfere in the internal affairs of other nations. Therefore , the United States has the legal right to act according to the laws it defines for itself.According to the report about Torture, Cruel , Inhuman and degrading treatments of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay . It recounted the experiences of prisoners inside the Bay prison. Prisoners in Guantanamo have reported being exposed to extraordinary psychological and physical abuse. In addition to abusive interrogation practices, prisoners report harsh disciplinary measures. For example, “The female interrogator had grabbed the detainee’s genitals and bent back his thumbs.

The marine then ‘implied that her treatment of that detainee was less harsh than her treatment of others by indicating that he had seen her treatment of other detainees result in detainees curling into a fetal position on the floor and crying in pain. . . ’ Othman Abdulraheem Mohammad has lived under fluorescent lights twenty-four hours a day for the last three years. These reports have been corroborated by military and news accounts.

Those stories sound so sad. Also, according to the article on Human Right Watch , congressional obstacles to closing Guantanamo should invigorate, not dampen, Obama administration efforts to ensure US compliance with international law, Human Rights Watch said. “Closing Guantanamo is as essential today as it was when President Obama took office in 2009,” said Andrea Prasow, senior counterterrorism counsel at Human Rights Watch. But Obama can’t keep hoping that a political consensus will form and Congress will make it easy – he has to act to make it happen. ” Although the Untied States have violated various fundamental principal of which democracy is based upon, as well as various international treaties such as the ICCPR and the Geneva Convention, nothing can be done about the human rights violation imposed at Guantanamo Bay. There will be no true effective nternational law if countries can continue to hide behind the excuse of state sovereignty.

If the effectiveness of international law is to increase and the security threats and challenges are to be met, the commitment of national states to international law must improve. I think the United States must remember that we have human rights not because we are American but because we are human. Bioliography 1. Human Right Watch: US Act on Pledge to Close Guantanamo http://www. rw.

org/news/2011/01/10/us-act-pledge-close-guantanamo 2. Center for constitutional rights : Report: Torture and Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Treatment of Prisoners at Guantanamo Bay http://ccrjustice. org/learn-more/reports/report%3A-torture-and-cruel,-inhuman,-and-degrading-treatment-prisoners-guantanamo- 3. Tutor2u: Global Issues: Human Rights and Terrorism: Guantanamo Bay closure abandoned http://tutor2u. net/blog/index. php/politics/comments/global-issues-human-rights-and-terrorism-guantanamo-bay-closure-abandoned/