Treat men tortured at Guantanamo, first UN investigator to detention facility tells US

Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, the first UN special rapporteur granted access to Cuba's Guantanamo Bay detention facility has called on the US government to provide rehabilitation treatment to the men it detained in the aftermath of 9/11.

In an interview with The Guardian, Ní Aoláin said the US, which operated the inhumane facility, had the responsibility to redress the harms it inflicted on its Muslim torture victims. He said the Biden administration needs to repair the detainees' severe physical and psychological injuries and meet commitments under the international law.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

She said existing medical treatment was inefficient to deal with multiple problems such as traumatic brain injuries, permanent disabilities, sleep disorders, flashbacks and untreated post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

“These men are all survivors of torture, a unique crime under international law, and in urgent need of care," she told the publication.

“Torture breaks a person, it is intended to render them helpless and powerless so that they cease to function psychologically, and in my conversations both with current and former detainees I observed the harms it caused.”

Ní Aoláin said the failure of the US authorities to provide medical care had a cruel, inhuman and other long-term impact on the prisoners.

“Without exception, each individual I met exhibits medical conditions relating to the physical harm they experienced from rendition and torture, or profound psychological distress such as anxiety, depression, extreme trauma and suicidal ideation,” she added.

“The US has some of the best torture treatment facilities and capability in the world, it exports it to others.But regrettably that hasn’t been used for the men currently detained at Guantánamo, and not a single man who has been released from the detention facility has had adequate rehabilitation.”

Also watch |20 years since the opening of Guantanamo Bay, the infamous US prison

×

Sorry details emerge from the report

Notably, it was in February thatNí Aoláin was granted access to the detention centre where 30 men are still held today.

Based on her four-day visit, she filed a comprehensive 23-page report and submitted it to the UN Human Rights Council. In the report,Ní Aoláin emphasised that while the 2001 attacks were indeed crimes against humanity, the subsequent use of torture and rendition by the US against alleged perpetrators and their associates constituted a grave breach of international human rights law

The report says that in every meeting the UN Special Rapporteur (SR) held with a detainee or a former detainee, she was told "with great regret" that she had arrived "too late" while referring to the systemic torture, "cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment inflicted over time".

"The US government is under a continued obligation to ensure accountability, make full reparation for the injuries caused, and offer appropriate guarantees of non-repetition for violations committed post-9/ 11," the UN report said.

(With inputs from agencies)

WATCH WION LIVE HERE: