UN rights body rejects call for Guantanamo probe

[zeeast]

The United States comfortably defeated a call to the UN’s top human rights body on Thursday to launch a probe into alleged violations at Guantanamo Bay.

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights rejected by 22 votes to 8, with 23 abstentions, a resolution brought by Cuba calling for the setting up of a special UN investigator for the detention centre at a US naval base on its territory.

European Union states on the 53-state commission sided with the United States in rejecting the resolution, saying that Washington was already in discussions with existing UN investigators about possible visits to the prison.

The United States holds over 500 alleged suspects in its declared war on terrorism at Guantanamo with many detainees having been there for more than three years.

Counter-terror acts: The United Nations created the post of special investigator on Thursday to probe counter-terrorism measures which violate basic human rights.

The 53 member states of the UN Commission on Human Rights - including the United States - adopted by consensus a resolution proposed by the European Union and set up the post for three years.

The resolution expressed solidarity with victims of terrorism and their families, and reaffirmed the Commission’s “unequivocal condemnation” of terrorism in all its forms as “criminal and unjustifiable”. But it deeply deplored “the occurrence of violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the context of the fight against terrorism”.

It called on states to “ensure that any measure taken to combat terrorism complies with their obligations under international law”.

Activists have lobbied since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States for the forum to probe allegations that the war on terrorism has led some countries to target certain ethnic or religious groups or deprive suspects of their legal rights. “It is the most important decision of this Commission,” Loubna Freih, spokeswoman of the New York-based group Human Rights Watch, told Reuters afterwards.

In a joint statement last week, groups including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Commission of Jurists urged the Commission to create the new post. “The special rapporteur would monitor counterterrorism laws and practices for their compatability with human rights, act to prevent human rights violations arising from counterterrorism measures and provide technical assistance to states,” they said.

The forum, which winds up its annual six-week session on Friday, last year appointed an independent expert to draw up a report on counterterrorism. The expert, Robert Goldman, reported that a “broad range of human rights have come under increasing pressure or are being violated by states in the context of counterrorism initiatives”.

His concerns included: the prolonged or indefinite incommunicado detention of terrorist suspects without access to courts; inhumane treatment during interrogation; military tribunals to try civilians; transfer or “rendition” of suspects to third states which

Abuses in Sudan: The UN Human Rights Commission on Thursday adopted a resolution condemning abuses in Sudan, passing by consensus compromise wording on improving the situation in the embattled Darfur region.

The resolution, adopted without a rollcall vote, had support from Sudan and other African nations, the United States, the European Union and others. It was approved after the EU withdrew a more stiffly worded document. agencies

[Zaheer]

UNO a joke at best.

[zeeast]

very true....... zaheer bhai.....

[Endurer]

an oxymoron in itself