HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE CENTER

CHRGJ Releases Legal Advisory on Minimum Standards for Transfer

On January 2009, President Obama promulgated a number of Executive Orders that created several Task Forces to advise him on certain aspects of U.S. counter-terrorism policy. One of the key issues currently under review is the U.S. practice of rendition. Despite the fact that several bodies of international law binding on the United States set out rules relevant to the transfer of individuals outside the United States to U.S. territory or to the custody of another state in the context of counter-terrorism operations, confusion often prevails concerning the legal norms applicable to this practice.

In an effort to clarify the legal issues involved, the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice is pleased to present its latest Legal Advisory. Examining human rights, refugee law, and humanitarian law norms, Minimum Standards for Transfer: International Law Concerning Rendition In The Context of Counter-Terrorism sets out a minimum baseline standard applicable to such transfers, articulating threshold requirements, substantive norms, and procedural guarantees that apply whenever the United States conducts an extraterritorial transfer of an individual within its effective control.

PRESS RELEASE

Leading Rights Groups Call On Obama To Release Prisoner Abuse Photos

June 1, 2009

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Obama:

We write to express our profound disappointment with your decision on May 13 to block the release of photographs depicting abuse of detainees by U.S. personnel overseas. We urge you to reconsider that misguided decision and to renew your commitment to our nation's most fundamental principles. Read more...

PRESS RELEASE

Rights Groups Respond to CIA's Denial of Former Vice President Cheney's Request for Documents' Release

(Washington and New York)--In response to today's news from the Central Intelligence Agency that it was denying former Vice President Cheney’s request for the public release of two memos--on the basis that the documents are currently the subject of pending litigation, including a suit filed jointly under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by Amnesty International USA, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice--the organizations released the following statements:

Tom Parker, counterterrorism expert with Amnesty International USA:

“The fact that Amnesty International USA, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice have submitted Freedom of Information Act requests to secure the release of these documents should obviously not be used as a pretext to withhold them. It is unusual for Amnesty International to find itself on the same side of an argument as the former Vice President Dick Cheney, but we welcome his late conversion to the value of transparency in government. The CIA should comply with the suit, stop stalling and make these documents public at the earliest possible opportunity.”

Gitanjali Gutierrez, attorney for the Center for Constitutional Rights:

“A year ago under the Bush administration, the CIA argued that disclosure of this document and others would jeopardize national security. Cheney’s self-serving request now to share the information with the public makes clear that the CIA has been using pretexts to withhold information vital to the public debate about the CIA’s torture program. The agency should commit to telling the public what we demand to know.”

Margaret Satterthwaite, faculty director of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU School of Law:

"Like Dick Cheney, we call on the CIA to immediately release these documents. Unlike him, however, we seek their disclosure to further transparency and oversight of an unlawful program. The CIA's arguments of a year ago--that the documents could not be released because they pertained to an ongoing program--are no longer valid since the president ordered the program closed in January. The American public deserves to have the full details about this program and the CIA should not block the public's attempt to learn the facts."

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE CENTER

CHRGJ: Why We Need Prosecutions and a Commission for U.S. Accountability

The Right to Justice: Pursue Prosecutions of Those Responsible for Torture and other Abuse of Detainees

• The Department of Justice should initiate criminal investigations and prosecutions of individuals believed to be responsible for the abuse of detainees.
• Victims have a right to redress, including criminal justice.
• International law requires countries to investigate and punish crimes involving the abuse of detainees.
• We need both prosecutions and a commission of inquiry to deliver a full spectrum of justice for the abuses committed.

The Right to Truth: Establish an Independent Commission of Inquiry

• President Obama and Congress should take immediate steps to establish a non-partisan, independent commission of inquiry.
• This Commission should not be seen as a substitute .
• Victims have a right to know the truth .
• The American public has a right to know.

PRESS RELEASE

CHRGJ Joins Campaign for a U.S. Commission Alongside its Call for Prosecutions

(WASHINGTON D.C.)—A coalition of 19 human rights, faith-based, and justice organizations today launched a campaign to urge President Obama to appoint a commission to investigate torture sanctioned by the Bush administration.

The group calls on Americans to sign an online petition, www.CommissionOnAccountability.org, advocating that President Obama establish an “independent, non-partisan commission to examine and report publicly on torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of detainees in the period since September 11, 2001.”

The campaign’s call for accountability comes just days after the release of the Senate Armed Services Committee report on interrogation and torture and the Justice Department legal memos sanctioning torture and inhumane treatment.

CHRGJ has called for a Commission of Inquiry to cover a broad range of violations committed by the Bush administration in the name of the U.S. "War on Terror"--including illegal detention, extraordinary rendition, torture, and other violations of domestic and international law. The Center has also called on the Obama Administration to initiate prosecutions of individuals responsible for the abuse of detainees. Independently of this collective call for a Commission, CHRGJ supports efforts to immediately begin investigations into criminal conduct alongside other accountability mechanisms, which should include reparations for victims and other measures to restore justice.