Statement of Human Rights First On Security Detainee Mistreatment

On April 28 the CBS news program “60 Minutes II ” broadcast photographs of U.S. military police subjecting Iraqi prisoners to abuse and humiliation at the U.S.-controlled Abu Ghraib detention facility in Baghdad. These shocking images have brought world-wide attention to the mistreatment of detainees in the custody of the U.S. military in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere around the world.

After repeated allegations of human rights abuses at Abu Ghraib, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of all allied forces in Iraq, ordered an investigation into the conduct of members of the 800th Military Police Brigade. The resulting report, which was prepared by Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba, found that "illegal abuse of detainnees" at Abu Graibh was "systemic." Government officials have now acknowledged at least twenty-five deaths of prisoners in U.S. custody in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Six military police officers have faced criminal charges within the U.S. military justice system related to these deaths, and other criminal investigations are proceeding. Indeed, another newly released report prepared by the International Red Cross makes clear that the extraordinary abuse of detainees was not limited to the facility at Abu Ghraib, but was part of a pattern of behavior and treatment dating from last year.

Over the past two years human rights groups have expressed serious concerns about conditions at U.S. detention facilities around the world, including concerns about the use of “stress and duress” interrogation techniques. In a series of reports published between September 2002 and September 2003, Human Rights First documented allegations of extralegal detention, mistreatment, and abuse by U.S. officials at detention facilities in the United States and around the world.

Human Rights First calls upon the US Government to:

• Allow the International Committee of the Red Cross access to all U.S. controlled detention facilities in Iraq and elsewhere
• Disclose information publicly about who is being detained and where
• Grant family members access to detainees
• Reaffirm publicly that all interrogations are being undertaken in strict conformity with the US government's obligations under human rights and humanitarian law

Investigations into abuses must examine the culpability of senior officials with command responsibility for the direct perpetrators of abuse, and other individuals with legal or de facto authority, including private sector contractors. Investigations and any resulting prosecutions should be conducted in as transparent and public a manner as possible, consistent with due process and the rule of law.