US slammed by UN

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UN body accuses US of violating human rights

5 Nov. 2010

America face barrage of criticism from UN Human Rights Council over Guantanamo and torture allegations. US President George Bush personally authorised the waterboarding of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged 9/11 mastermind. UN members accused the US of violating human rights though covert CIA operations "carried out on pretext of combating terrorism". US officials said: "United States does not torture and it will not torture."

US official Ileana Ros-Lehtinen refused to accept criticism from member of UN body. She said "the 47-member UN Human Rights Council was "dominated by rogue regimes. Serial human rights abusers like Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela all hijacked the platform to attack the US for imaginary violations. The US should walk out of this rogues' gallery and seek to build alternative forums that will actually focus on abuses and deny membership to abusers."

Amnesty International said that the US must hold accountable those officials responsible for torture. Human rights organisations said that the current and previous US administrations should be accountable to all allegations of torture in Iraq and interrogations of terror suspects around the world; and not only is justice not being done, it is also prevented from being done; Obama administration is becoming an obstacle to achieving accountability in human rights.

Newly-published Iraq war secrets by WikiLeaks have revealed a large number of brutalities against Iraqi civilians, many recounting tales of abuse by coalition forces. The field reports contain numerous official accounts of alleged detainee abuse by the multi-national troops in war-torn Iraq. One such document dating back to September 2005 depicts the forces brutally kicking and stoning a farmer over allegations that he was planting an improvised explosive device. The secret documents published by the whistleblower website over the weekend are a part of the nearly 400,000 classified reports about the US-led invasion of Iraq dating from January 2004 to the end of 2009. The documents have shed light on a spate of crimes and offences committed in Iraq over the past few years, including rape, assassinations and murders. The site has also exposed documents on the similar US-led war in Afghanistan and is expected to disclose additional related details.


US still investigating waterboarding torture: official

A senior US official said on Friday that waterboarding was clearly outlawed as torture, with an investigation still under way to see if those who ordered such a practice could be prosecuted.

The United States is under the scrutiny of the 47-member U.N. Human Rights Council for the first time on Friday 5 November 2010.

This is the first time the U.S. has formally participated in the Universal Periodic Review, a process under which the human rights records of all 192 U.N. Member States are assessed every four years.

Cuba and Iran blast U.S. on human rights at U.N. summit

The United States defended its human rights record from criticism from countries including Cuba and Iran, who called for it to close Guantanamo prison and investigate alleged torture by its troops abroad.

A U.S. delegation also heard demands for an end to discrimination against minorities and immigrants and a banning of the death penalty.

The debate took place in the United Nations Human Rights Council, which is gradually reviewing the performance of all 192 U.N. member states.

"While we are proud of our achievements, we are not satisfied with the status quo. We will continue to work to ensure that our laws are fair and justly implemented," Michael Posner, assistant U.S. secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, told the Geneva forum. The United States ratified the Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment in 1994.

But diplomats from countries at odds with Washington -- some of whom queued overnight to be among the first on the speakers' list -- hammered the U.S. delegation for alleged abuses.

Cuban ambassador Rodolfo Reyes Rodriguez spoke first, calling on Washington to end the blockade on his island country and respect the Cuban people's right to self-determination.

Venezuela's envoy German Mundarain Hernandez said it should "close Guantanamo and secret detention centers around the world, punish those people who torture, disappear and execute detainees arbitrarily and provide compensation to victims."

Iran's delegation urged the United States to "halt serious violations of human rights and humanitarian law including covert external operations by the CIA carried out on pretext of combating terrorism."

The Washington Post reported on Thursday that former president George W. Bush said in his memoirs that he personally gave the go-ahead for CIA officers to use waterboarding on self-confessed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

The United States submitted a 29-page report to the 47-member forum listing achievements and conceding shortcomings.

UN heard that US blockade against Cuba was "a crime of genocide."

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US rejects UN calls for torture probe

US rejected UN call for independent investigation into abuses of human rights and torture by Americans. The US has faced much criticism at the UN top human rights assembly over allegations of torture and delays in the closure of Guantanamo Bay Detention Center.

The Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council called on the White House to investigate allegations of torture in US detention centers abroad.

The ambassadors of 47 member-states urged the swift closure of US detention centers in Guantanamo in Cuba and Bagram airbase in Afghanistan.

European countries including Britain, as well as Australia, recommended a moratorium or abolition of the death penalty

France urged President Barack Obama to "honor his promise" in 2009 to close Guantanamo where a total of 172 of the 242 detainees, from when Obama took office in 2008, are kept. France insist on the need for help from Congress, the courts and US allies willing to host ex-detainees.

Cuban ambassador Rodolfo Reyes Rodriguez called on the US to "halt war crimes and the killing of civilians." Venezuela's German Mundarain Hernandez recommended that Washington "put to trial those responsible for victims of torture."

US is trying to limit damage by hundreds of thousands of newly-released Iraq war secrets by Wikileaks. It reveals a large number of brutalities against Iraqi civilians and children. One log by US military recounts the rape of an Iraqi girl by a US soldier. According to the document, a US soldier raped a little Iraqi girl in 2007 but was not disciplined for his act of violence. The soldier was merely notified that an Iraqi man intended to kill him because of the rape. The Iraqi man was transferred to the Ramadi Detention Facility for threatening to kill a foreigner.

Four hundred thousand files, released by the whistleblower website, cover the period between January 1, 2004, and January 1, 2010 of the US occupation of Iraq.

The Washington Post reported on Thursday that former US president George W. Bush wrote in his new memoir that he personally gave the go-ahead for CIA officers to waterboard alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

The 36-member US delegation tried to downplay the human rights violations committed by Washington, but recognized that the US record was "not perfect."

"While there were some politically-motivated conversations, overall the conversation was constructive dialogue on international human rights," delegation chief and assistant secretary at the US State Department, Esther Brimmer told reporters afterwards.

Although no action is taken in the four-yearly "Universal Periodic Review" it exposes governments to examination by their peers and the UN. The US had refused to join the UN council under the Bush administration.


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