[JURIST] Six senior UN human rights experts joined Friday to express their continuing concern over the situation of detainees at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST Hot Topic news archive]. In a statement released in Geneva, UN committee chairs and rapporteurs on arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, torture, health standards and other human rights areas cited:

• lack of clarity concerning the legal basis for continued detention of inmates at Guantanamo.
• uncertainty concerning the length of detention.
• lack of disclosure regarding the number and identity of detainees.
• questionable lack of independence of the Combatant Status Review Tribunals and the Administrative Review Board.
• the need to objectively asses allegations of abuse.
• conditions of detention in the prison.
• lack of communication to detainees regarding whether they will face criminal charges.

The UN experts concluded:

the right and duty of all States to use all lawful means to protect their citizens against death and destruction brought about by terrorists must be exercised in conformity with international law; lest the whole cause of the international fight against terrorism be compromised.