Pursuing Real Transparency and Humane Treatment at Guantanamo

The ACLU, Amnesty International, Human Rights First and Human Rights Watch wrote to President Obama last week requesting full access to the Guantanamo Bay detention camps to independently examine and report on conditions of confinement there. The four organizations were granted observer status in August 2004 in order to observe the military commissions, but our persistent requests for full access to the detention camps have been repeatedly denied by the Bush administration, which only offered us the VIP tour of sanitized areas approved by their public relations experts.

Section 6 of President Obama’s January 22, 2009 executive order instructs the Defense Department (DoD) and Defense Secretary Robert Gates to immediately review the conditions of detention at Guantanamo and ensure compliance with the Geneva Conventions. If full access is granted, the four human rights organizations would independently review and report on the conditions of confinement at Guantanamo and make concrete recommendations for change, assisting the DoD with their current review. The independent, outside assessment would also be reported publicly to the world and contribute to a renewed effort to bring the U.S. into compliance with international human rights obligations.

The letter states:

We ask you to reconsider our organizations’ request for full access to the Guantanamo Bay detention camps and honor it in light of the current DoD review. According to your executive order, the DoD review “shall be completed within 30 days and any necessary corrections shall be implemented immediately thereafter.” We ask that, if granted full access, our independent review should take place within the next few weeks, to allow time for us to finalize our report and recommendations before the completion of the DoD’s review.

The ACLU and other organizations continue to struggle for information regarding the present conditions of confinement of detainees in Guantanamo. The information we have managed to piece together has been disturbing and worrisome; many detainees have attempted suicide, others are on hunger strike to protest conditions of confinement, and many detainees continue to be held in inhumane, isolated confinement for months and years on end.

Furthermore, other independent experts have also been denied full access of the detention facility where torture and abuse have occurred, including several UN independent human rights experts who insisted on confidential interviews with the detainees as dictated by UN protocol for such visits. It is time for change.

President Obama has pledged that his administration will usher in a new era of openness and transparency. Granting human rights organizations full access to the Gitmo camps would send a powerful message to the world regarding the Obama administration’s commitment to transparency and openness, consistent with the president’s January 21, 2009 Freedom of Information Act directive that noted, “A democracy requires accountability, and accountability requires transparency.” Allowing four independent civil liberties and human rights organizations to independently examine the Guantanamo detention camps would signal a significant break from the Bush administration’s policy of secrecy regarding conditions of confinement at Guantanamo. By doing so, President Obama would help restore American legitimacy and standing in the world, and place pressure on other governments to open their detention centers for independent inspections.

In light of the important changes that President Obama has initiated in his first days in office, we trust that he will act quickly to uphold transparency at Guantanamo.