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USA: UN scrutiny essential in preventing torture and ill-treatment

26 August 2005, 11:25AM

Amnesty International stressed the need for the USA to open up its detention centres all over the world to independent UN experts, after they expressed "deep regret" at the USA's failure to facilitate a visit to its 'war on terror' detainees. The organization pointed out the importance of independent monitoring in preventing torture and ill-treatment.

"Not only is the USA failing to investigate itself fully, it is failing to allow external independent scrutiny by human rights experts," said Amnesty International. "Such scrutiny is essential. The less contact detainees have with the outside world, the greater the risks of torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. As the independent experts have reminded the USA, no country is above international human rights law."

Amnesty International is calling for the US Congress to establish a commission to carry out a full independent investigation into US detention and interrogation policies and practices around the world. It should seek the advice of international experts such as the UN expert on Torture in order to ensure its effectiveness and the appearance of impartiality in the eyes of the world.

"Allowing UN experts full access is a vital part of ensuring the international credibility of such an investigation," said Amnesty International.

"Shunning international law and denying detainees basic human rights will not bring security to the USA. It is time for the USA to fully re-engage with the international community in upholding human rights rules which the USA was material in shaping."

Amnesty International is intensifying its work on torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. It is launching a campaign against the use of torture and ill-treatment in the 'war on terror' on 26 June, International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, in recognition that such a focus is central to reasserting the global ban on such treatment.

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