Public Comment

A June 23, 2023 report of a U.N. investigation found conditions inside the prison at Guantanamo Bay cruel and inhuman. Roughly 780 detainees have been held at the detention center since it opened in 2002. Today, 30 remain, 19 of whom have never been charged with a crime, and 16 have been cleared for release.  

"The [UN] experts called on the US Government to close the site, return detainees home or to safe third countries while respecting the principle of non-refoulement, provide remedy and reparation for those egregiously tortured and arbitrarily detained by their agents, and hold those that authorized and engaged in torture accountable as required under international law." 

The UN Report comes on the heels of the 21st anniversary of the first arrival of “unlawful enemy combatants” at the U.S. naval base base at Guantánamo Bay, when more than 150 international human rights organizations in a letter dated January 11, 2022, called upon President Joe Biden to close the prison. 

The release of the Senate Torture Report in December 2014, showed that the CIA used torture methods such as waterboarding, shackling in painful positions, prolonged sleep deprivation, and slamming detainees against walls. It also found that those abuses did not help locate Osama bin Laden or thwart any terrorist plots, and were in fact counterproductive. 

With this shocking legacy, Joe Biden at the beginning of his presidency promised to “seek to have the detention center closed” and directed the Defense Department to study how best to do so. And there has been some indication that the Biden administration is accelerating its efforts to close Guantánamo, or at least reduce its inmate population to only those facing criminal charges. 

However, “[I]t’s an impediment to trial partly because evidence obtained through torture is rarely admissible in court, potentially weakening prosecution efforts. In addition, information that remains secret, such as the identities of the torturers, could become public at trial, and "the CIA absolutely does not want that to happen," said Rick Kammen, the former lead defense attorney for Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, who is charged with orchestrating the October 2000 USS Cole naval warship bombing and has been held at Guantánamo for 13 years. 

Around the world, Guantánamo is a symbol of racial and religious injustice, abuse, and disregard for the rights long-recognized under both human rights law and international humanitarian law.  

It is hypocritical of the United States to condemn others for crimes against humanity until we come to terms with the terrible legacy of our treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay and black sites around the world. "Those seeking equity must do equity."