Visiting Guantanamo for the First Time: A Pioneering Experience

Since its opening in 2002, no United Nations (UN) human rights investigators were allowed to visit Guantanamo Bay. However, in February, Irish law professor Fionnuala Ni Aolain was given access and discovered “cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.” During her four-day visit, Ni Aolain met with several prisoners, as well as 9/11 families. The resulting 23-page report, described as containing “searing words,” has raised significant concerns.

According to Ni Aolain, the suffering of the detainees at Guantanamo Bay is profound and ongoing. She emphasizes that systematic practices of rendition, torture, and arbitrary detention have caused unrelenting harm. In her view, the US owes the inmates an apology and the detention center should be closed. The US, however, disagrees with many factual and legal assertions in her report. Noteworthy details from the report include:

• Ni Aolain arrived “too late” for many detainees, as only 34 remained at the time of her visit. She highlights the lack of international law compliant domestic oversight and accountability as contributing factors to the horrors experienced by the detainees over the years.
• Ni Aolain applauds the US government for allowing her visit, considering it a meaningful step towards international law compliance. She had access to everything she requested.

• Each detainee has experienced their own distinct psychological and physical trauma as a result of human rights abuses.
• The conditions at Camps 5 and 6 meet internationally accepted standards for the majority of detainees, providing necessary sleeping accommodations, sanitation, food service, recreational facilities and activities, and communal prayer.
• The Guantanamo detention infrastructure is marked by arbitrariness.
• Several procedures in place constitute cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, such as addressing detainees by their Internment Serial Number rather than their name, which undermines their self-worth and dignity.
• Many detainees displayed evidence of deep psychological harm and distress, including anxiety, helplessness, hopelessness, stress, depression, and dependency.
• Ni Aolain expresses grave concern over the US government’s failure to provide torture rehabilitation programs.
• Of the 30 remaining detainees, 19 have never been charged with a crime, some after more than 20 years of detention.