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Conditions of detention of nationals of Council of Europe member states held in Guantanomo Bay by the United States
Doc. 10270
2 September 2004Written Question No. 453 to the Committee of Ministers
presented by Mr Masson
Mr Masson wishes to draw the attention of the Committee of Ministers to the maltreatment of certain nationals of Council of Europe member states at the hand of the United States. The traumatic effect on US citizens of the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 is understandable. However, that is no reason for the United States, keen to portray itself as an exemplary democracy, to commit serious breaches of the most basic rights of prisoners being held completely unlawfully at the Guantanomo Bay base. These prisoners are being subjected to physical and psychological torture and are placed in a situation outside the law, which serves as a pretext for denying them any legal assistance.
The Council of Europe's reaction to this state of affairs should be particularly firm, since the prisoners include many nationals of the organisation's member states. The human rights abuses being perpetrated by the United States are not confined to Guantanamo. Prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan are also being maltreated. This bears out the contention that these practices were the subject of an institutional decision endorsed by the highest authorities in the United States.
In view of the United States' tendency to position itself as a teacher of lessons, it is essential that the lessons should not be unreciprocated. The abuses perpetrated by the United States are all the more unacceptable in that they are allegedly committed in the name of democracy, freedom and human progress.
Given the seriousness of the situation, Mr Masson is surprised that the Committee of Ministers has not taken much more vigorous and firmer action in respect of the United States. In particular, he wishes to know why it has not envisaged suspending the United States' observer status within the Council of Europe, at least as an interim measure.
Signed:
[1]
MASSON Jean-Louis, France, EDG
SOC
EPP
EDG
LDR
UEL
NRSocialist Group
Group of the European People’s Party
European Democratic Group
Liberal, Democratic and Reformers’ Group
Group of the Unified European Left
Not registered in a group