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UN human rights forum rejects Cuban
call for Guantanamo probe
GENEVA, 21 (AFP) - The top UN human rights
body rejected Cuban calls for the United
States to allow an independent probe of
the Guantanamo Bay detention centre.
Only eight countries in the 53-nation UN
Human Rights Commission supported a Cuban
resolution that asked Washington to "authorize
an impartial and independent investigation
by the appropriate Human Rights Commission
mechanisms into the situation of people
deprived of freedom" at the US naval
base.
Twenty-two countries voted against the
measure and 23 abstained.
Both Washington and Havana are members
of the UN human rights forum and engage
in regular spats during its annual meetings.
Cuba filed the resolution last week, hours
after the Geneva-based commission voted
21-7 for a US resolution calling for the
extension of the mandate of a UN expert
examining the human rights situation in
Cuba. Havana does not recognise the expert's
mandate and has consistently refused to
allow her to visit.
Lino Piedra, a US delegate at the commission,
claimed that the Guantanamo resolution was
a "blatant retaliatory act" by
Cuba after last week's vote.
Cuba's delegate, however, said it was a
"response to the persistent outcry
of the international community" about
the Guantanamo Bay facility, and that Havana
was simply "shouldering the burden."
Luxembourg's ambassador Alphonse Berns,
representing the European Union, also criticised
Havana.
"Asking someone to do something you
won't do yourself makes a mockery of the
commission," he told journalists after
the vote.
More than 500 detainees, most captured
in Afghanistan or Pakistan following the
September 11, 2001 attacks, are currently
held as "enemy combatants" at
Guantanamo.
The resolution -- co-sponsored by Belarus,
Libya, North Korea, Syria and Venezuela
-- reaffirmed previous concerns voiced by
UN experts over the situation at the base,
a US toehold in eastern Cuba.
It called on the United States to allow
UN special envoys on torture and arbitrary
detention to visit detention facilities
at the base.
Piedra noted that discussions on possible
visits were already underway with UN monitors.
"Hence, the resolution is based upon
a false premise," he said.
"The United States is among the first
to acknowledge that the issue of detainees
at Guantanamo raises difficult issues that
can provoke passions and criticisms,"
said Piedra.
"This resolution calls for an impartial
and independent investigation," he
added. "This is already occurring and
it is being conducted by one of the most
respected and experienced monitoring bodies
in the world, the International Committee
of the Red Cross."
The ICRC is the only independent organisation
which has so far been allowed to visit the
prisoners at Guantanamo. It keeps its findings
confidential.
Other human rights groups have said regularly
that the United States should be held to
account over Guantanamo, citing concerns
ranging from the unclear legal grounds for
detention to allegations by released inmates
that they were tortured.
Loubna Freih, spokeswoman for Human Rights
Watch, said the resolution's failure was
a disappointment.
"It was as a result, at least in part,
of the resolution's sponsors, as opposed
to its content," she told journalists.
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