CubaMinrex. Sitio del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba

European Diplomats Call on Washington to Close Guantánamo

Washington, February 21, 2006 (RHC)-- The British, French and German ambassadors to the United States have called on Washington to close its Guantánamo prison camp, as pressure increases on the White House. The three European diplomats issued their statements following the release of a report by UN human rights experts calling for the prison at Guantánamo -- located in eastern Cuba and illegally occupied by the United States -- to be closed as soon as possible.

Berlin's ambassador to Washington, Wolfgang Ischinger, told reporters in the U.S. capital that "the sooner it is closed, the better it will be for the image of the United States." The French ambassador to the U.S., Jean-David Levitte, said that "Guantánamo is an embarrassment, and so it has to be solved one way or the other." And British ambassador Sir David Manning reaffirmed Prime Minister Tony Blair's comment last week that the U.S. prison camp was "an anomaly."

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan distanced the United Nations from the report, which was commissioned by the UN but carried out through the Geneva-based Human Rights Commission by independent human-rights experts. At the same time, he supported its message, saying that "sooner or later," Guantánamo would have to be closed.

Kofi Annan said that "the basic point -- that one cannot detain individuals in perpetuity, and that charges have to be brought against them and be given a chance to explain themselves, prosecuted, charged or released - I think is something that is common under any legal system."

According to the UN secretary general, the U.S. is walking a fine line in Guantánamo. Annan said that "the basic premise is, we have to be particularly careful to keep a balance between effective anti-terror measures, and individual freedom and human rights."

 

 

 

 

<< Back