U.S. Congress and the Executive Branch continue to wrestle with questions about the appropriate laws and policies to address the treatment and status of detainees who have been held at the U.S. military installation at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Throughout the years, the Human Rights Center has published several studies and commentaries on the effects Guantánamo Bay has on detainees.
Guantánamo and Its Aftermath
HRC’s study Guantánamo and Its Aftermath: U.S. Detention and Interrogation Practices and Their Impact on Former Detainees was a collaborative effort with the International Human Rights Law Clinic at Berkeley Law and the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights. The report presents findings from a two-year study of detainees once they left U.S. custody and is some of the only rigorous empirical data regarding this prisoner population. Through research and interviews with former detainees and key informants, the study explores the impact of detention on detainees, families, and communities, and recommends appropriate legal mechanisms, detention practices, and policies to protect the human rights of detainees taken into U.S. custody during the ‘war on terror.’ The report was released on November 12, 2008, at an event at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.
Partners
Coalition-Building and Advocacy
In April 2009, the Human Rights Center joined a coalition of 18 other human rights, faith-based, and justice organizations in calling on the Obama administration to establish a commission on accountability to investigate torture sanctioned by the Bush administration. In 2014, the Human Rights Center, the International Human Rights Law Clinic, and the Center for Constitutional Rights, submitted a shadow report to the UN Committee against Torture in Geneva.
Publications
November 3, 2014
The United States’ Compliance with the United Nations Convention Against Torture with Respect to Guantánamo Bay Detainees and the Cumulative Impact of Confinement, the Abuse of Detainees Post Release, and the Right to Redress
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December 1, 2009
The Cumulative Effect: A Medico-Legal Approach to United States Torture Law and Policy
View Publication
September 17, 2009
The Guantánamo Effect: Exposing the Consequences of U.S. Detention and Interrogation Practices
View Publication
March 1, 2009
Returning Home: Resettlement and Reintegration of Detainees Released from the U.S. Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba
View Publication
November 1, 2008
Guantánamo and Its Aftermath: U.S. Detention and Interrogation Practices and Their Impact on Former Detainees
View PublicationNews
February 25, 2015
(Reuters/Shane T. McCoy) Commentary — Salon: “When I returned home, it was another hell”: Now’s the time to talk about what we do
January 29, 2015
A commitment to justice means more than just closing Gitmo
Protestors dressed as Guantánamo detainees gather in front of the White House, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2015, in Washington, during a rally to mark the 13th anniversary of detainees at Guantánamo Bay. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
November 7, 2013
Commentary — Berkeley Blog: The breaking of bodies and minds: Task force report confirms complicity of U.S. medical personnel in torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, authored
February 6, 2013
Department of Justice ‘White Paper’ Full of Contradictions
(Reuters/Shane T. McCoy) Commentary — U.S. World News: Department of Justice ‘White Paper’ Full of Contradictions, authored by Alexa
June 11, 2009
There’s no escaping Guantánamo
U.S. troops at the Guantánamo Bay detention center in Cuba. (Louie Palu/ZUMA photo). Commentary — Los Angeles Times: There’s no escaping
March 23, 2009
International Human Rights Law Clinic Students Brief Policymakers on Guantánamo
People protest detention at Guantánamo and Bagram detention facilities at the White House on February 27, 2009. Image by Mike Benedetti via Wikimedia Commons HRC in the News —
November 21, 2008
A guard tower over Camp Delta, Guantánamo Bay Detention Center on Sept. 12, 2007. Photo by Army Sgt. Joseph Scozzari). International New York Times, Closing Gitmo Is Not Enough,
November 12, 2008
New report details shattered lives of released Guantanamo detainees
A guard tower over Camp Delta, Guantánamo Bay Detention Center on Sept. 12, 2007. Photo by Army Sgt. Joseph Scozzari). HRC in the News — Berkeley
November 12, 2008
Commentary — C-SPAN: Guantanamo and Its Aftermath, Human rights experts released their report Guantánamo and Its Aftermath: U.S. Detention and Interrogation Practices and Their Impact on