NZ Should Join Call For End To Guantanamo Bay

NZ Should Join Call For End To Guantanamo Bay

Journalist David Rose has made an invaluable contribution to the cause of universal human rights for all by this exposure of the grave human rights violations occurring on a daily basis at the United States prison camp at Guantanamo Bay Cuba.

This prison camp holds prisoners who have not been charged with any legal offence, have not had the right to a fair trial and have been and are subjected to the most appalling physical and mental torture.

United States officials have openly stated that they will not respect the Geneva Convention and the basic international law documents guaranteeing the human rights of all who are imprisoned.

Guantanamo Bay is not the only site where this assault on human rights is occurring. The European and Middle Eastern countries to where so-called terrorist suspects have been sent (rendition) so they can be tortured beyond the reach of American courts and Afghanistan are part of the plan. New Zealand, of course, has its soldiers working alongside the military forces of the United States and Great Britain whose governments concur in the undermining of international law by allowing torture as a routine practice in regard to suspects.

It is an irony of history that the very place where torture is practised in Guantanamo is also a creation of a grave violation of international law - the seizure of the territory from the sovereign state of Cuba in 1901.

It is New Zealand’s best interests to join with all those countries and respected human rights organisations who are called for the United States to end its violation of human rights at Guantanamo. And while we are at it we should call for the return of Guantanamo to its rightful owner – the people of Cuba.

Matt Robson is a former New Zealand Cabinet Minister and MP. In the Labour-Alliance Government Mr Robson was the Associate Minister for Foreign Affairs

ALSO - No Right Turn on UN Guantanamo Report - Guantanamo must be closed, and its prisoners either released or given a fair trial in the United States under US law. That is the recommendation of an investigation conducted by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. Why? Apart from general principles of justice and a respect for human rights, the UN has three reasons. See... No Right Turn: Guantanamo Delenda Est
Audio: Manning & Pound on Guantanamo Bay.
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