The organisations Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International (AI) have called on the President-elect of the USA, Barack Obama, to close down Guantanamo camp.

Around 250 prisoners

On 11 January 2002, the USA brought 20 people to Guantanamo base, which is on occupied Cuban terrritory. It is estimated that around 250 people are imprisoned in Guantanamo bay today; some of them were brought there as children.

Amnesty International has made a list of demands for the President-elect, calling on him to prove his human rights record within the first 100 days of office, starting on 20 January. The organisation demands that Obama’s administration:

• announce a plan and date to close Guantánamo;
• issue an executive order to ban torture and other ill-treatment, as defined under international law;
• ensure that an independent commission to investigate abuses committed by the US government in its “war on terror” is set up.

HRW: Release or prosecute prisoners

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch (HRW) is also holding Obama to his promise of closing down Guantanamo. The organisation calls for a board that would decide which detainees to release or to prosecute in civil federal courts. Those released need to protected from torture or human rights violations in their own countries.

According to HRW, 17 Uygurs are still being held in the camp, because the Bush administration ignored a court decision calling for their settlement in the USA.

The organisation calls on Obama to reject any proposals for “preventive detention systems”, as, just like Guantanamo Bay, such systems allow people to be detained without proof of a criminal act. (TK/AG)