UNITED NATIONS, March 1: UN Human Rights chief Louise Arbour on Wednesday lamented that hundreds of prisoners, including Pakistanis, Afghans and Arabs, remained in American jails without recourse to due process.
"I hope we will see the American judicial system rise to its long-standing reputation as a guardian of fundamental human rights and civil liberties and provide the protection to all that are under the authority, control and jurisdiction of the United States," Ms Arbour said at a press briefing here.
Responding to questions about prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere without access to an independent judicial review of their cases, she said that lack of access had been her concern upon the creation of the `Guantanamo environment’ -- described by some as a `legal black hole’.
With respect to the extrajudicial killings by Israel in Gaza and the West Bank, and the thousands of Palestinians detained without trial, she said she had shared that concern directly with the Israeli authorities in her recent visit to the Middle East. At that point, the Israeli Supreme Court had not yet rendered its decision on the legality of extrajudicial killings.
The court was an excellent judicial body, but its decision had not gone the distance in totally prohibiting that practice. The ruling had been disappointing, she added.
Asked whether she would make another attempt to visit Darfur, given the Sudanese government's refusal to allow a recent Human Rights Council mission into the country, Ms Arbour said the government had declined to issue visas.
“It is understood that it has objected to the presence of a member of the high-level mission and to one of its staff members. If that information is correct, it is entirely unacceptable for United Nations staff to be denied access in the discharge of their professional responsibilities,” she said.
