US must urgently treat men tortured at Guantnamo, UN investigator says [View all]

[Gaugamela]

The first UN investigator to be allowed to visit Guantánamo has called on the US government to provide urgent rehabilitation treatment for the men it tortured in the wake of 9/11 to repair their severe physical and psychological injuries and meet its commitments under international law.

In an interview with the Guardian, the UN monitor on human rights while countering terrorism, Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, said that the US had a responsibility to redress the harms it inflicted on its Muslim torture victims. Existing medical treatment, both at the prison camp in Cuba and for detainees released to other countries, was inadequate 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 said. “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.”

In February, Ní Aoláin was granted unprecedented access to the detention center at Guantánamo where 30 men are still held today. In the report of her four-day visit, she found that the failure to provide specialist care focusing on redressing the long-term impact of torture had a cumulative effect that amounted to “cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment” in violation of the US government’s obligations under international conventions.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/07/guantanamo-bay-un-visit-torture-treatment