EU should resettle cleared Guantánamo prisoners, says Amnesty

Amnesty International has urged the EU to "take a clear stand" with the US on alleged human rights violations.

The charity’s message comes on the eve of Tuesday’s EU-US summit in Slovenia, the last to be attended by George W. Bush before he leaves office.

Amnesty says that after finally asking for the closure of the detention camp at Guantánamo in June 2006, the EU has “not offered constructive solutions” to help close the base.

Nicolas Beger, director of Amnesty’s EU Office, said, “At the moment, about a quarter of the hundreds still held in Guantánamo have been cleared for release without ever having been charged with a crime by the US authorities.

“Yet since they cannot be returned to their home countries because of the risk of torture, they are being kept in indefinite detention, in violation of international human rights law.”

It says the EU “could and should” help the US to resolve the situation, which is one of the issues preventing the closure of Guantánamo, by offering to resettle these individuals in Europe.

“Instead of watching passively, the EU should engage with the US in the search for a solution that will put an end to Guantánamo and the failure of the rule of law that it represents. And what better occasion than tomorrow’s summit, with President Bush himself?” he asked.

“The EU has an obligation to raise human rights concerns, particularly when they are so serious. By not raising them the EU is giving the US a preferential status, which ultimately reduces its credibility to raise them with other countries” added Beger.

“Improved communication would also help clarify exactly how the CIA has used European territory and airspace to carry out extraordinary renditions, sparing Europe embarrassment in the future,” he said.

Amnesty International has also urged Slovenia, holder of the rotating EU presidency, to press for progress in rejecting all forms of torture.

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