Reports that the government of Palau has offered to temporarily accept up to 17 Guantánamo detainees leave many questions unanswered and even if the offer is taken up it would not relieve the US authorities of their responsibility to the men, Amnesty International has said.

The President of Palau, Johnson Toribiong, said today that the Pacific island nation had agreed to accept on a temporary basis 17 Uighur men who have been held without charge or trial in Guantánamo since 2002 “as a humanitarian gesture”, subject to periodic review. In subsequent reports, an unidentified US official is quoted as saying that there has been "no final decision, no details arranged. We will continue talks with Palau."

“Although Amnesty International has been calling on other countries to offer humanitarian protection to Guantánamo detainees, this announcement raises more questions than it answers and in no way absolves the US authorities of their responsibility towards these men,” Daniel Gorevan, of Amnesty International’s Counter Terror with Justice Campaign, said today.

Reports of Palau’s offer do not specify whether the men would face any further detention in Palau.

No information is available as to whether the wishes of the detainees have been taken into account in this decision, whether the USA would put in place the measures necessary to facilitate family reunification and whether the men would be supported to adapt to a new life in an unfamiliar country, taking into consideration their particular needs arising from years of indefinite detention.

“The announcement that this would be a temporary measure also raises serious questions. Having been detained in limbo in Guantánamo for more than seven years, the Uighur men need more than temporary half measures. They need and are owed permanent and durable solutions,” said Daniel Gorevan.

The USA began the Guantánamo detentions and therefore carries the primary responsibility for ending them, in ways that comply with its international obligations. Nevertheless, Amnesty International has long called on other countries to help by accepting some detainees who cannot be returned to their home countries. Many countries have refused, citing the USA’s own resistance to offering them the opportunity to be admitted to the US mainland.