Advocates Allege U.S. Prison Torture But Lack the Proof
BY BENNY AVNI - Staff Reporter of the Sun
June 24, 2005

UNITED NATIONS - Four Geneva-based advocates raised to new heights yesterday the political debate over Guantanamo Bay by alleging torture and demanding a visit to the detention facility. All are part of the bureaucracy of the Human Rights Commission, a U.N. agency so laden with political biases that even Secretary-General Annan has suggested it be shut down.
The self-described independent experts concluded yesterday that the denial of access to American military facilities, where combatants captured in anti-terrorist battles are held, was an admission of guilt by the Bush administration. In a press release, the advocates said even without visiting Guantanamo, they intended to issue a report based on credible sources who allege torture and other violations.
Secretary-General Annan was traveling yesterday and his spokeswoman, Marie Okabe, said he would not immediately comment on the press release, which led news broadcasts around the world shortly after it was issued. The advocates do not necessarily reflect Mr. Annan's opinions, she told The New York Sun. They are independent, Ms. Okabe said, referring to the human rights advocates - rapporteurs, in U.N. parlance.
The rapporteurs detailed their difficulties with American authorities, who since January, 2002, consistently denied them access to detention facilities: the United States is not willing to cooperate with the United Nations human rights machinery on this issue, the four concluded. Nevertheless, they added, We will conduct an investigation based on all credible sources regarding the situation of the detainees in Guantanamo Bay.
American officials have met with the U.N. representatives, a Defense Department spokesman, Lieutenant Commodore Flex Plexico, told The New York Sun by e-mail. Their request is still under consideration.
Lieutenant Commodore Plexico said the important role of visiting the Guantanamo detainees is performed by the International Committee of the Red Cross, which regularly visits [American] detention facilities, meets privately with detainees, and provides reports on their visits.
In addition to the Red Cross, he added, since 2002, there were 400 visits by 1,000 national and international journalists to the Guantanamo Bay facility. Eleven senators, 77 representatives, and 99 congressional staff members conducted visits. Lawyers for detainees received access in connection with habeas cases. So did nongovernmental organizations, such as Human Rights Watch and Human Rights First, Mr. Plexico said.
As Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld recently said, Arguably, no detention facility in the history of warfare has been more transparent or received more scrutiny than Guantanamo.
One of the Geneva-based rapporteurs, Manfred Nowak, said, however, that the refusal to grant him access to the facility is evidence of cover-up. At a certain point, you have to take well-founded allegations as proven in the absence of a clear explanation by the government, he told the Associated Press.
An Austrian national, Mr. Nowak bears the title of special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment or punishment. Like all rapporteurs, the other three who signed the press release carry long, descriptive titles. Paul Hunt of New Zealand is special rapporteur on the rights of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standards of physical and mental health. Leandro Despouy of Argentina is special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers. Leila Zerrouguy of Algeria is chairperson-rapporteur of the working group on arbitrary detention.
Fifty rapporteurs are appointed by the Human Rights Commission for a period of two years each.They are not paid by the United Nations, but their expenses are reimbursed and they receive at least one paid staffer to aid them. They operate as advisers independently of the U.N. Secretariat, and report annually to the Geneva-based commission.
In the past, Mr. Annan's spokesmen stressed to the Sun that rapporteurs do not necessarily reflect U.N. policy or Mr.Annan's opinions. One example was a statement made by a rapporteur on adequate housing, Miloon Kothari, who blasted Israeli policies and denounced the Middle East road map, a plan that had been approved several weeks earlier by the U.N. Security Council and Mr. Annan.
The Human Rights Commission, described in one recent report by Mr. Annan as a source of embarrassment for the United Nations, includes representatives of nations such as Sudan, Cuba, Zimbabwe, and China. In its latest session, the 53-member body was unable to coalesce around any statement on Darfur, but issued more that two dozen resolutions denouncing Israel. In his reform plan, Mr. Annan called to replace it by a smaller body called human rights council which would bar participants that do not adhere to international human rights standards.