Amnesty International: Governments must be accountable for secret detentions
Regional, Politics, 1/29/2010

Amnesty International Wednesday called on all states to take concrete steps to end secret detention, following publication of detailed UN report on its widespread use in name of countering terrorism.

"Secret detention is not only unlawful in itself, it enables a range of abhorrent abuses including torture and extrajudicial execution," said Widney Brown, senior director of International Law and Policy for Amnesty.

"States must act swiftly to implement the recommendations in this important study, to confront and end secret detention and the human rights violations it entails and enables," Brown said.

The study prepared for the UN Human Rights Council highlights secret detention practices in US-led global "war on terror" operations since the September 11th 2001 events.

It refers to the global nature of the problem, naming dozens of countries, covering every region of the world, as undertaking secret detention, or being complicit in it through international networks of detainee transfers and intelligence agencies.

Amnesty said secret detentions, as the UN report clearly states, constitute a series of human rights violations and "cannot be justified under any circumstances."

"The practice is irreconcilable with international human rights law and international humanitarian law," it said, calling for countries to be held to account for "abuses, including crimes under international law, perpetrated by the United States government in the course of such operations."

Previous Stories:
  Prisoners held without charges or trial in US Guantanamo get support by UK protesters   (1/15/2008)
  FBI report confirms abuse of Guantanamo detainees   (1/6/2007)
  US Guantanamo 'unacceptable', warns Beckett   (10/12/2006)

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