GENEVA: The United Nations’ top human rights official pressed the US on Friday to close the Guantanamo Bay prison, strongly criticising the indefinite detention of inmates at the facility.
President Barack Obama pledged to shutter the prison soon after taking office, but Congress opposed it, passing a law that prohibits the government from transferring Guantanamo prisoners to US soil and requiring security guarantees before they can be sent elsewhere.
Navi Pillay, the UN high commissioner for human rights, said she is “deeply disappointed” Washington hasn’t closed the facility. She urged all branches of the government to work together to shut it.
Pillay said in a statement that “the continuing indefinite incarceration of many of the detainees amounts to arbitrary detention and is in clear breach of international law.” She welcomed a recent White House statement that the administration remains committed to closing the facility.
“Nevertheless, this systemic abuse of individuals’ human rights continues year after year,” Pillay said. “We must be clear about this: the United States is in clear breach not just of its own commitments, but also of international laws and standards that it is obliged to uphold. When other countries breach these standards, the US — quite rightly — strongly criticises them for it.” Pillay said of a hunger strike currently being staged by detainees that “given the uncertainty and anxieties surrounding their prolonged and apparently indefinite detention in Guantanamo, it is scarcely surprising that people’s frustrations boil over and they resort to such desperate measures.” AP
