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International Criticism of Bush's Decision on Cuba Prisoners' Status
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| The U.S. still faces growing world criticism over treatment of prisoners |
WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A day after the United States announced that among the 186 prisoners being held at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Taliban, not Al-Qaeda fighters would be protected under the Geneva Conventions, criticism and disagreement were voiced by international bodies and even U.S. allies, news agencies reported.
European governments and human rights groups have censured Washington for withholding "prisoner of war" status as well for all detainees. This would notably grant the detainees the right to refuse to give more than name, rank and serial number when interrogated.
The London-based human rights group Amnesty International said Friday that it was up to the law, and not the United States, to determine whether detainees transferred to Cuba from Afghanistan should be considered as prisoners of war.
"When they say we are applying the Geneva Convention, we would like to know what exactly they are applying because they are not applying this particular article, which says the presumption is that they are a prisoner of war until proven otherwise," Claudio Cordone, Amnesty's research chief, told AFP.
"That's what article 5 of the Geneva Convention on PoW says… The authority to do that is with the tribunal not with President [George W.] Bush or his advisers."
In a statement released Thursday, Vienna Colucci of Amnesty International USA said, "This partial compliance with the Geneva Conventions is a half-measure and continues an arrogant policy of pick and choose with regard to the laws of war."
Cordone said there were four Geneva Conventions, and the third specifically treats the issue of prisoners of war.
The debate over the status of the prisoners has been raging since January 11, when U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said that the prisoners had no rights because they were "unlawful combatants."
"They will be handled not as prisoners of war - because they're not - but as unlawful combatants," he told reporters. "As I understand it, technically, unlawful combatants do not have any rights under the Geneva Convention."
Rumsfeld and other senior officials have stood by their statements despite criticism from around the world.
A State Department official, when asked by IslamOnline two weeks ago if there was a distinction being made between Taliban and al-Qaeda prisoners, said that there was not much difference. To his knowledge at the time, there was no effort being made to distinguish the two groups.
And White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Thursday that Taliban members were ineligible for PoW status under the Convention because they had not effectively distinguished themselves from the civilian population and had shunned "the laws and customs of war."
Article 5, however, states that: "Should any doubt arise as to whether persons, having committed a belligerent act and having fallen into the hands of the enemy, belong to any of the categories enumerated in Article 4, such persons shall enjoy the protection of the present Convention until such time as their status has been determined by a competent tribunal."
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), based in Geneva, also criticized Washington's decision on Friday, saying that the application of the 1949 Geneva Convention could not be done on a selective basis, AFP reported.
"The decision by President Bush to apply the Third Geneva Convention to the conflict in Afghanistan, but deny prisoner of war status to Guantanamo Bay detainees is incorrect in law," a statement by the group, which works to support international law that advances human rights, said.
"President Bush said this Convention is applicable. That application cannot be selective or partial," the ICJ said, highlighting the contents of a letter sent to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.
The Convention demands the conferral of POW status unless a competent tribunal decides otherwise, and "Only a U.S. court, and not the administration, has the legal authority to make such a determination," it added.
Captured Taliban fighters are entitled to POW status as members of armed forces, irrespective of non-recognition of the Taliban authorities as the legitimate government of Afghanistan, the ICJ said.
"That same status may or may not be extended to al-Qaeda fighters, but must be determined by a competent tribunal," it added.
The letter by ICJ Secretary-General Louise Doswald-Beck also expressed concern at "misleading statements" on U.S. obligations under international law.
Contrary to what the Bush administration said, ICJ said granting POW status does not prevent the interrogation and prosecution of detainees responsible for war crimes or crimes against humanity.
Yet another international body, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), rejected Bush's decision on Friday, AFP reported.
"Anybody captured in a context of an international conflict... is covered by the Third Geneva Convention and therefore is presumed to be a prisoner of war unless a competent tribunal decides otherwise," ICRC spokesman Kim Gordon-Bates said.
The ICRC, which is the guarantor of the Geneva Convention, said that it was awaiting the statement from the White House to weigh the full legal implications of the decision.
Bates said the ICRC "had, on first sight, no problem with the fact that some people are refused" the status of POW by a tribunal, but stressed there was a judicial process to be followed.
This should be done on a "case by case" basis, he added.
Finally, a message from France on Friday echoed the same sentiments in maintaining its position that all detainees in Cuba should be protected by the Geneva Convention, AFP said.
"France's position has not changed," French foreign ministry spokeswoman Laurence Auer said. "We believe that all the prisoners at Guantanamo should enjoy all the rights guaranteed by international law.
"The United States have sent us their legal analysis of the situation. We are busy studying it," she added. "We do not have all the facts on which they have based this legal position."
France has confirmed that two of the Guantanamo prisoners are French, and there are reported to be other French nationals among the 269 being held by the U.S. in Afghanistan.
With additional reporting by Ayesha Ahmad, IOL Washington Correspondent
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