In a United Nations report, a special rapporteur condemns the treatment of detainees at the US prison camp Guantanamo as “cruel, inhuman, and degrading.” She calls for the camp’s closure.

According to a UN special rapporteur, the treatment of the remaining detainees at the US prison camp Guantanamo in Cuba is still “cruel, inhumane, and degrading.” “After two decades of detention, I have seen that the suffering of the detainees is deep and lasting,” said Fionnuala Ni Aolain, the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism.

The use of torture, as well as the abduction of suspects and their accomplices by the US in the years following the 9/11 terrorist attacks violated international human rights norms, Ni Aolain told journalists in New York when presenting her report to the UN Human Rights Council. She called for the closure of the infamous camp.

Washington refutes “numerous statements”

Prior to the UN report, the Irish law professor was the first UN special rapporteur to visit the detention facility – with official permission from the US. She thanked the United States for the authorization and emphasized that she was given complete access. She also received “significant improvements” compared to earlier status reports.

In a response letter to the Human Rights Council, the US stated that the special rapporteur’s findings presented “solely their own perspective.” Washington disputes “numerous factual and legal statements” in the report.

Still 34 detainees in Guantanamo

In February, the US Department of Defense announced that, more than two decades after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, 34 detainees are still being held in the prison camp in Cuba. It was established under the Republican President George W. Bush’s administration after the terrorist attacks to hold suspected Islamist terrorists without trial.

The camp, located at the US Naval Station Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, has housed nearly 800 people at times. Human rights organizations have long demanded its closure – after the presentation of the UN report, Amnesty International reaffirmed this demand.