Annan encourages rule of law at Guantánamo
Outgoing UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, has previously condemned the US-led war on Iraq as illegal. He has also called for the detention camps at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba to be closed.
Yesterday, he praised the Bush Administration‘s decision to respect Guantánamo detainees’ inalienable legal rights to the protection afforded by common article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. Of course, the US has been forced to alter its position by the recent decision of the US Supreme Court condemning as illegal the proposed military tribunals intended to try some Guantánamo inmates. The New York Times calls it "a major climb-down".
In 2002, George W. Bush claimed that the Conventions did not apply, inventing a new label for his captives — ‘unlawful combatants’ — a term which does not appear in international law. This new kind of American exceptionalism has been condemned internationally, if not universally. It constitutes a frightening precedent for US and allied forces who may face retaliation if and when the tables are turned and they are captured by enemy forces.
The Geneva Conventions are the centrepiece of what’s called international humanitarian law (IHL) or the ‘laws of war’ which aim to limit suffering during armed conflict. They apply to all warring parties, whether government forces, rebels, insurgents, or whoever. They don’t have to be formal signatories to international treaties to be bound by Geneva law.
The third Geneva Convention relates to the treatment of prisoners of war. Article 3, common to all four of the Geneva Conventions, states in part:
"In the case of armed conflict not of an international character . . . each party to the conflict shall be bound to apply, as a minimum:
"Persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including . . . those placed hors de combat [out of action] by . . . detention . . . shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, without any adverse distinction founded on race, colour, religion or faith, sex, birth or wealth, or any other similar criteria.
"To this end the following acts are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever:
(a) Violence to life and person, in particular . . . cruel treatment and torture; . . .
(c) Outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment;
(d) The passing of sentences . . . without . . . a regularly constituted court affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples.
Said Annan’s spokesman: "Strict compliance with international humanitarian and human rights law in no way contradicts or undermines efforts to counter terrorism. On the contrary, (it) is essential to the success of those efforts."
