ملحق (4) من تقرير اللجنة العربية لحقوق الإنسان

UNITED NATIONSE Economic and Social  Council
 Distr.GENERAL E/CN.4/2003/G/73 7 April 2003
Original: ENGLISH
COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Fifty-ninth session Agenda item 11 (a)
 
CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS, INCLUDING THE QUESTIONS OF:TORTURE AND DETENTION
Letter dated 2 April 2003 from the Permanent Mission of theUnited States of America to the United Nations Office at Geneva addressed to the secretariat of the Commission on Human RightsThe enclosed document is intended as an observation from the United States of Americaon the “Report of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention” (E/CN.4/2003/8).

Please publish this response* as a United Nations document to be available for all delegates when considering items under agenda item 11.
(Signed): Jeffrey De Laurentis Counsellor for Political Affairs
 
Response of the Government of the United States of America to the December 16, 2002 Report of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention

The Government of the United States welcomes the opportunity to respond to the above-mentioned Report relating to detention at Guantanamo Naval Base (Guantanamo).

The Report concluded that until a tribunal convened under Article Five of the Third Geneva Convention of 1949 has determined whether individuals detained at Guantanamo enjoy prisoner-of-war (POW) status, detainees provisionally enjoy the protection of the Geneva Convention, including the right to review of the lawfulness of their detention and the right to a fair trial under Articles 105 and 106.

The Report further concluded that where the benefit of POW status is not recognized by a competent tribunal, the right of detainees would be governed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees review of the lawfulness of detention and the right to a fair trial under Articles 9 and 14.

 The United States Government refers to its letter to the Working Group of December 17, 2002, respecting detention at Guantanamo, which is incorporated in this Response. As noted in that letter, the mandate of the Working Group does not include competence to address the Geneva Conventions of 1949 or matters arising under the law of armed conflict. Nevertheless, the United States Government, in a spirit of cooperation, offers this response to the Working Group Report.

The United States Government respectfully disagrees with the conclusions reached by the Working Group that the individuals detained at Guantanamo are entitled to a review of the lawfulness of their detention.

As the Working Group is aware, on September 11, 2002, terrorists used unlawful and perfidious means to attack innocent civilians in the United States.

These acts, as the United Nations Security Council recognized, constituted a threat to international peace and security. Since September 11, the United States has exercised its inherent right of self-defense as recognized in Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations and UN Security resolutions 1368 (12 September 2001) and 1373 (28 September 2001) and has used other lawful and reasonable means to thwart further attacks by enemy combatants on American persons and property.