Iraq/USA: No double standard on POWs
Amnesty International said:
'Prisoner of war should be treated humanely and not be subjected to any form of torture or ill-treatment and should be given immediate access to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
'We demand that the governments of Iraq, US and the UK respect the laws of war and to treat all detainees in conformity with the Geneva Convention.'
On 23 March, following the exposure of the US soldiers - captured by Iraqi forces during the US-led attack on Iraq - on Iraqi television being interrogated, US President George Bush as well as UK Prime Minister Tony Blair accused Iraq of breaching the Geneva Convention by showing the captured on television and demanded fair treatment for the POWs. The same principle applies to Iraqi prisoners of war. Iraqi officials stated that they will respect the Geneva Convention.
On the same day, however, about 30 more detainees were flown from Afghanistan to the US Naval Base in Guantánamo Bay in Cuba. This brought to about 660 the number of foreign nationals from approximately 40 countries held in the base.
'Despite many requests, we are still denied access to Bagram and Guantánamo Bay prisons and once again we call upon US government to address Amnesty International's concerns about the detainees.
'In addition, we call for a full, impartial inquiry into allegations of torture and ill-treatment by US personnel against alleged al-Qa'ida and Taleban detainees held in US Air Base in Bagram, Afghanistan.'
Amnesty International also called on all media to ensure in its use of images that the dignity of all prisoners of war, whether Iraqi or US or other, is respected.
Background
According to the Third Geneva Convention, prisoners of war 'are entitled in all circumstances to respect for their persons and their honour' (Article 14) and 'must at all times be protected, particularly against acts of violence or intimidation and against insults and public curiosity' (Article 13).
Torture or inhuman treatment of prisoners of war is a grave breach of the Convention (Article 130). Each party to the Convention has an obligation to search for those suspected of having committed such breaches and bring them to justice before its own courts or hand them over for trial to another party (Article 129).
When the first of the detainees arrived in Guantánamo Bay in January 2002, the Pentagon released a photograph of the detainees in orange jump-suits, kneeling before US soldiers, shackled, handcuffed, and wearing blacked-out goggles over their eyes and masks over their mouths and noses. The photograph shocked world opinion and led Secretary Rumsfeld to acknowledge that it was 'probably unfortunate' that the picture had been released, at least without better captioning. He added:
'My recollection is that there's something in the Geneva Conventions about press people being around prisoners; that - and not taking pictures and not saying who they are and not exposing them to ridicule' (Department of Defence News Briefing : Secretary Rumsfeld and General Pace, 22 January 2002).
Further information
A full copy of the report United States of America: International standards for all is available online .
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