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[LONDON, 11 January 2006] - On 11th January 2002, the Guantánamo Bay detention centre, situated at a US naval base in Cuba, was receiving its first “war on terror” detainees, following the invasion of Afghanistan. Five years on, about 400 men are still held in Guantánamo as “enemy combatants”, including at least four young men who were under 18 at the time of their arrest. They have not been charged or tried, they do not know how long they will be detained, and they are unable to challenge the lawfulness of their detention. Today, protesters are mobilising around the world to call for the closure of Guantánamo. Calls for action/closure Some estimates suggest that as many as 17 detainees were taken to Guantánamo when they were under 18 years old. At least four of these, possibly more, remain held. They are Mohammed al-Gharani, a Chadian national detained in Pakistan when he was 15, Omar Khadr, a Canadian national, aged 15 when captured in Afghanistan, Hassan bin Attash, a Yemeni national, 17 when he was captured in Pakistan and Yousef al-Shehri. Another detainee, Yassar Talal ‘Abdullah Yahia al-Zahrani, from Saudi Arabia, was reportedly 17 when he was detained. He died in Guantánamo in June 2006, apparently as a result of suicide. Releasing three Afghan children from Guantánamo in January 2004, [see Human Rights Watch press release] the Department of Defense stated that "as with all detainees, these juveniles were considered enemy combatants that posed a threat to US security… Age is not a determining factor in detention." The three children who were released were between the ages of 13 and 15 at the time of their detention. In their release from the base the USA was acting in terms of government policy rather than in compliance with its international legal obligations. The US determined that the "juvenile detainees no longer posed a threat to our nation, that they have no further intelligence value and that they are not going to be tried by the US government for any crimes." Apart from the three children released in 2004, who were transferred to a separate section of the camp when details of their young age emerged, the others have been held in the same harsh conditions as adults, including prolonged solitary confinement in Camp V. The detention and interrogation of children in Guantánamo contravened principles reflecting a broad international consensus that the vulnerabilities of under-18-year-olds require special protection. Child detainees should be kept separate from adults unless it is their best interests not to be and detention should only be used as a last resort. When detention is resorted to, Article 37 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) states that "every child deprived of his or her liberty shall have the right to prompt access to legal and other appropriate assistance, as well as the right to challenge the legality of the deprivation of his or her liberty before a court or other competent, independent and impartial authority, and to a prompt decision on any such action." Under Article 40, if the child is alleged to have violated the law, they should be "treated in a manner consistent with the promotion of the child’s sense of dignity and worth, which reinforces the child’s respect for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of others and which takes into account the child’s age and the desirability of promoting the child’s reintegration and the child’s assuming a constructive role in society". The USA has signed the CRC and is therefore obliged under international law not to do anything that would undermine the object and purpose of the treaty pending its decision on whether to ratify it. The USA has ratified the Optional Protocol to the CRC on the involvement of children in armed conflict. Under Article 6(3), in the case of children held because they participated in the international or non-international armed conflict in Afghanistan, the USA has an obligation to provide them with "all appropriate assistance for their physical and psychological recovery and their social reintegration". Detaining children in indefinite military custody in Guantánamo Bay cannot meet this obligation. In 2004, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the only organisation with access to the detainees said: "The ICRC does not consider Guantánamo an appropriate place to detain juveniles. It is especially concerned about the fact that they are held away from their families and it worries about the possible psychological impact this experience could have at such an important stage in their development" [read full report]. All those who were taken into custody when still children and transferred to Guantánamo are now over 18 years old. This does not alter the fact that their earlier treatment violated international principles on the treatment of children. Amnesty International believes that no one detained in Guantánamo who is charged with a crime committed when they were a child should be tried by a military tribunal. Hundreds of children around the world are currently suffering pain and distress as the result of being separated from their fathers, brothers or other relatives who have been locked up in Guantánamo for years. None of them know when or if they will see their loved one again. Article 9 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child asks States to "ensure that a child shall not be separated from his or her parents against their will" and specifies that, in the cases of detention and imprisonment of either parent, the "State Party shall, upon request, provide the parents, the child or, if appropriate, another member of the family with the essential information concerning the whereabouts of the absent member(s) of the family unless the provision of the information would be detrimental to the well-being of the child". In England, 10-year-old Anas el-Banna has not seen his father, Jamil el-Banna, for four years, since he was seized during a business trip in the Gambia, accused of having a suspicious device in his luggage (a battery charger). He has written three times to Prime Minister Tony Blair, to ask him why nothing was done to free his father. Today, he will go to the Prime Minister's office in Downing Street, London, to ask him directly for an answer. The Foreign Office, however, has already stated that nothing could be done because Mr el-Banna is not a British citizen, although his wife and children are. [read the article in full in The Independent] Further information
Children in Guantánamo (Amnesty International - November 2006)
Children of Guantánamo detainees