UNITED NATIONS, June 16: Five independent United Nations human rights experts on Wednesday called upon the United States to immediately close the Guantánamo Bay detention centre following three suicides there, citing a report they issued three months ago alleging inhumane conditions amounting to torture and the ‘profound effect’ on detainees’ mental health.
“The simultaneous suicide of three detainees in the Guantánamo military base on June 10 was to a certain extent foreseeable in light of the harsh and prolonged conditions of their detention and reinforces the need for the urgent closure of the detention centre,” they said in a joint statement issued in Geneva, reiterating their repeated calls for its closure.
The experts, known as Special Rapporteurs, are unpaid and serve in an independent personal capacity.
They received their mandate from the now defunct UN Commission on Human Rights and will report to the newly established and enhanced Human Rights Council, which is to be inaugurated in Geneva on Monday.
