UN, US disagree on Guantanamo
2005-11-06 12:06
Elsinore - UN human rights experts will not travel to the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba next month unless they are allowed to talk freely with prisoners and guards, the UN's special reporter on torture said on Saturday.
After a year and half, the US government finally agreed to the visit but has restricted it to one day and has yet to authorise meetings with prisoners, Manfred Nowak told AFP on the sidelines of a seminar on torture.
US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld said private interviews with detainees is for him "out of question," Nowak said.
"For us it's definitely a pre-condition and I sincerely hope that he will change his opinion and give permission because it's the only way to conduct an objective fact-finding," he said.
Nowak said he was still waiting for an official response from the US government on the authorisation to speak with prisoners and warned without it the UN group would not go to Guantanamo on December 6.
"If we are not receiving clear assurances that the United States government will fully comply with the general United Nations terms of references for a fact-finding mission, we will not go," Nowak said.
However even if the UN group does not visit the military prison it will still complete its report on Guantanamo for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The Guantanamo detention facility was opened shortly after the US-led war in Afghanistan began in late 2001 and has been the focus of worldwide controversy following allegations that US forces have abused detainees.