US embassy cable - 05GENEVA2630

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 GENEVA 002630 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR IO/SHA, DRL/MLA, L/HRR 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, UNHRC-1, Human Rights 
SUBJECT: COMMUNICATION FROM THE FIVE SRS REGARDING 
INVITATION TO GUANTANAMO AND A PRESS RELEASE 
 
REF:  GENEVA 2552 and previous 
 
1.  Mission received the following communication from the 
five Special Rapporteurs regarding the invitation to visit 
Guantanamo that was extended to Mr. Nowak, Ms. Zerrogui and 
Ms. Jahangir.  The letter and the attachments have been e- 
mailed to IO/SHA and this communication will be included on 
#10 on the 2005 correspondence log. 
 
2.  Begin text of letter: 
 
31 October 2005 
 
Excellency, 
 
We have the honour to write to you in our respective 
capacities as Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, 
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Chairperson- 
Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, 
Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment 
of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental 
health, Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and 
lawyers, and Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or 
belief. 
 
As you will recall, for four years, since November 2001, a 
number of special procedures mandate holders have been 
engaged in a dialogue with your Government regarding the 
situation of suspected terrorists held in Guantanamo Bay 
Naval Station, Cuba, and other detention facilities. In June 
2004, the Annual meeting of special 
rapporteurs/representatives, experts and chairpersons of 
working groups of the special procedures and the advisory 
services programme of the Commission on Human Rights 
requested us to join our efforts and to continue the 
dialogue with your Government as a group because the 
situation under consideration falls under the scope of more 
than one mandate. 
 
In June 2005, we decided to undertake, within the capacities 
of our respective mandates, a joint study to determine the 
situation of detainees in Guantanamo Bay.   We have 
subsequently embarked on a study on the applicability of 
international human rights law to detention in Guantanamo 
Bay and on the legal aspects related to this situation.  We 
have also started gathering factual information by various 
means and will be carrying out interviews with former 
detainees currently residing in a number of countries. 
 
We were very pleased to have the opportunity to meet 
Ambassador Michael Kozak, and his colleagues, on Friday 28 
October to further discuss our request to visit the 
detention facilities and detainees held at Guantanamo Bay. 
 
At this meeting, we were especially gratified to learn of 
your Government's invitation to Mr. Manfred Nowak, Ms. Leila 
Zerrougui and Ms. Asma Jahangir to visit the facilities in 
the near future (see the letters of 27th October 2005 from 
Matthew Waxman, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for 
Detainee Affairs).  While noting that almost four years have 
passed since the first request to visit Guantanamo Bay, 
which was made by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention 
in early 2002, we very much welcome your Government's 
invitation to visit the detention facilities in the near 
future.  We also very much appreciate Ambassador's Kozak's 
assurances of your Government's further cooperation as we 
prepare our joint report for submission to the Commission on 
Human Rights. 
 
We regret, however, that, despite the terms of our request, 
your Government's invitation extends to neither Paul Hunt 
nor Leandro Despouy. We wish to emphasise that their 
mandates are integral elements of our joint investigation 
and their exclusion from your Government's invitation will 
limit the effectiveness of our joint study. 
 
During our meeting with Ambassador Kozak and his colleagues, 
we were informed that the visit to Guantanamo Bay could last 
no longer than one day. In our view, this might be shorter 
than is necessary for the mandate holders to conduct all the 
investigations that they wish to make. 
 
Nonetheless, we are all resolved to advance this matter in a 
constructive and cooperative spirit. 
 
Accordingly, we are pleased to accept the invitation 
extended to the three mandate holders and confirm that they 
are immediately beginning to prepare for their visit in 
accordance with the standard "Terms of Reference for Fact- 
finding missions by Special Procedures". 
 
As you may recall, these Terms apply to all Special 
Procedures' missions to States, including their detention 
facilities.  For your convenience, we attach a copy of these 
Terms of Reference and note in particular paragraph (b) with 
its requirement of freedom of inquiry, including: 
 
"(iv) Confidential and unsupervised contact with witnesses 
and other private persons, including persons deprived of 
their liberty". 
 
We are aware that, according to the letters of 27 October, 
the visit to Guantanamo Bay "will not include private 
interviews or visits with detainees."  However, we can find 
no justification for waiving the requirement of (b)(iv) in 
relation to the forthcoming visit.  Moreover, we have no 
doubt that if we were to dispense with this requirement in 
relation to our current investigation, this would have 
serious negative implications, not only for our present 
inquiry, but also for investigations that will be conducted 
by special procedures in relation to other countries in the 
future. 
 
We are confident you will understand that the integrity and 
credibility of all special procedures demands that the same 
standard of unfettered access to detainees is applied to all 
States, without exception. 
 
On 28th October, Ambassador Kozak and his team invited us to 
provide a date when the relevant mandate holders could visit 
Guantanamo Bay. Given their existing commitments, they are 
in a position to undertake the mission on 6th December 2005. 
 
We would be grateful if your Government confirmed as soon as 
possible whether or not this is a convenient date for the 
mission to take place, subject to the standard Terms of 
Reference. 
 
Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of our highest 
consideration. 
 
Leila Zerrougui 
Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary 
Detention 
 
Paul Hunt 
Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment 
of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental 
health 
 
Leandro Despouy 
Special Rapporteur on independence of judges and lawyers 
 
Asma Jahangir 
Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief 
 
Manfred Nowak 
Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or 
degrading treatment or punishment 
 
End text of letter. 
 
3.  Begin text of press release: 
 
UNITED NATIONS 
Press Release GUANTANAMO BAY DETAINEES 
UN human rights experts respond to US invitation 
31 October 2005 
 
The following statement was issued today by the following 
five independent experts of the United Nations Commission on 
Human Rights who are undertaking a joint study on the 
situation of detainees in Guantanamo Bay. 
 
The independent experts are: 
 
Leandro Despouy. Special Rapporteur on the independence of 
judges and lawyers 
 
Paul Hunt Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the 
enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and 
mental health 
 
Asma Jahangir Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or 
belief 
 
Manfred Nowak Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, 
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment 
 
Leila Zerrougui. Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group 
on Arbitrary Detention 
 
"We welcome the letters of invitation extended to three 
special procedures on 27 October 2005 by the United States 
Department of Defense to visit the Department's detention 
facilities at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station, Cuba. 
 
This invitation is the first tangible result of almost four 
years of dialogue between the special procedures of the 
United Nations Commission on Human Rights and the US 
Government. 
 
While we appreciate the willingness of the US Government to 
invite three of us, Asma Jahangir, Manfred Nowak and Leila 
Zerrougui, we deeply regret that similar invitations were 
not extended to Leandro Despouy and Paul Hunt, that the 
visit to Guantanamo Bay Naval Station is limited to one day 
and that private interviews or visits with detainees are 
explicitly excluded. 
 
We have carefully considered the invitation and decided to 
accept it on the following basis. In a spirit of cooperation 
we accept the short duration of the visit and the fact that 
only three of us will be permitted to visit the facilities. 
However, we cannot accept the exclusion of private 
interviews with detainees as this would not only contravene 
the Terms of Reference for Fact-finding missions by Special 
Procedures but also undermine the purpose of an objective 
and fair assessment of the situation of detainees held at 
the Guantanamo Bay. 
 
We are confident that the US Government, which attaches 
great importance to the principles of independent and 
objective fact finding, will understand our position.  We 
have decided that Asma Jahangir, Manfred Nowak and Leila 
Zerrougui will visit Guantanamo Bay provided that they will 
have free access to all detainees and the opportunity to 
carry out private interviews with them.  The date envisaged 
for the visit is 6 December 2005. 
 
Chronology of Requests for Visits regarding detainees at 
Guantanamo Bay and other locations 
 
Since November 2001, a number of special procedures mandate 
holders have been engaged in a dialogue with the United 
States Government regarding the situation of detainees held 
in Guantanamo Bay. In June 2004 we joined our efforts and 
decided to continue the dialogue with the US Government as a 
group because the situation under consideration falls under 
the scope of more than one mandate. Accordingly, on 25 June 
2004, we sent a letter requesting to visit "those persons 
arrested, detained or tried on grounds of alleged terrorism 
or other violations, in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Guantanamo 
Bay military base and elsewhere". Subsequent reminders 
focusing on a visit to Guantanamo Bay -were sent on 22 
November 2004, 21 April 2005 and 31 May 2005 respectively. 
 
By letters dated 9 November 2004 and 20 May 2005 and in a 
briefing with the US delegation to the Commission on Human 
Rights, held on 4 April 2005 in Geneva, the United States of 
America responded by saying that the request "continued to 
be the subject of intense review and consideration" and that 
it "has received serious attention and is being discussed at 
the highest levels of the U.S. Government". 
 
On 23 June 2005, we announced publicly at a joint press 
conference that, in the absence of a reply, we will join our 
efforts to undertake, within our capacities of our 
respective mandates, a study to determine the situation of 
detainees in Guantanamo Bay.  We have subsequently embarked 
on a study on the applicability of international human 
rights law to detention in Guantanamo and on the legal 
aspects related to this situation. We have also begun 
gathering factual information by various means and we will 
be carrying out interviews with former detainees currently 
residing in a number of countries.  By letter dated 21 
October 2005, we received a detailed response from the US 
Government to the questionnaire that was submitted by us on 
8 August 2005. 
 
On 26 and 28 October, we had further meetings in New York 
City with US officials from the Defense and State 
Departments.  At the second meeting, we were provided with 
the three letters of invitation and assurances that the US 
Government will continue its cooperation with the five 
independent experts involved in the joint study. 
 
End text of press release. 
 
MOLEY