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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Violations of Human Rights of Detainees at Guantanamo Bay

Michael Grodin, MD, Boston Medical Center, The Boston Center for Refugee Health and Human Rights, Dowling 7, 1 Boston Medical Center Place, Boston, MA 02118, (617) 638-4626, grodin@bu.edu

Guantanamo Bay represents the very worst of abuses of international humanitarian and human rights law. Detainees are imprisoned without adequate access to legal counsel or independent tribunals violating the right to fair trial. Prisoners have been detained for undefined periods, without charges, and have been subjected to prolonged solitary confinement violating the right to be free of arbitrary detention. Detainees lack independent medical evaluation violating the right to health Detainees have been subjected to physical and psychological interrogation techniques that are in violation of the right to be free of torture. Prisoners have been denied independent investigation into allegations of torture and ill treatment. Rendition of prisoners to countries with a substantial risk of torture violates the principle of non-refoulment. There have been violations of the right to freedom of religion or belief. Force feeding of detainees on hunger strikes violates the right to health. As an expert consultant to the legal teams representing Guantanamo detainees, Dr. Grodin will call for independent investigation, documentation, accountability and possible prosecution of violations of prisoner's human rights. Guantanamo Bay must be closed.

Learning Objectives:

Keywords: Human Rights, Prison

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Uplifting Prisoners Rights to Preserve Human Rights: Guantanamo and Beyond

The 134th Annual Meeting & Exposition (November 4-8, 2006) of APHA