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Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
 The Organization of
American States (OAS), through its Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights (IACHR), has closely followed for more than a decade the
situation of the people detained at Guantanamo Naval Base. The concern
of
the Organization has been expressed through cautionary measures,
resolutions, examinations of cases, hearings and press releases,
requesting for these people treatment in strict accordance with
universal and regional norms regarding human rights, to which
our countries have adhered.
In this framework, in its Resolution of July 2011, the IACHR “urges the
United States to close the Guantanamo Bay facility without delay and
arrange for the trial or release of the detainees.” More than a year
later, this process has not concluded, despite
the efforts made by the government of President Obama.
More than half of the prisoners that remain in Guantanamo are in
conditions to be freed, but have not been for the lack of a country that
will receive them. These are people who have not been judged, nor will
they be, for any crime, and the exhaustive evaluations
that they have been submitted to by the authorities of the United
States have determined that they do not present serious risks to the
security of the country, nor to any that receives them.
The Government of the United States has requested that the countries of
the Hemisphere examine the possibility of receiving these people in
their territories. Since 2009, 18 countries have hosted a total of 48
detained people, reducing the list to 149. Of this
number, 79 are in conditions to be freed, if some country will receive
them. A positive response to receive a reduced number of them, who do
not present a risk to security, would contribute to significantly
reducing this serious humanitarian case in the territory
of the Americas.
I request respectfully that those countries that can do so, in a manner
consistent with their national policies and their internal legal
framework, consider receiving people currently detained in Guantanamo,
in order to allow them to resume their lives following
their prolonged detention.
I reiterate that I make this request in accord with the position
maintained by the IACHR, which has on repeated occasions called for the
closure of this detention camp. Such a closure would also require that
the United States process the cases of the other
70 detained people, on which it should take a timely decision.
I believe that our commitment to the universal cause of human rights
does not only call on us to comply with them, but also to consider the
possibility of cooperating in their fulfillment when another country of
the region requests it.
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