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Guantanamo Bay And Human Rights Violations by the United States
By James Hay
University of Scranton

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Abstract
Grave violations of United Nation Standards pertaining to prisoners of war were violated by the
United States in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba at a Naval Station. The treatment of offenders during
their indefinite incarceration gave way to criticism by other nations on the United States policy
on Human Rights. The United States has offered several reasons as to why they need to detain
these individuals following the attacks of 9/11. In addition, several arguments against their
detention are also discussed.
Keywords: Guantanamo Bay, Inmates, Geneva, International Law,
Human Rights Violations

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Introduction
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba is originally a naval base that was once used to house detention
facilities for Haitian and Cuban refugees fleeing to the United States. It was also used as a
refueling station for Navy ships. It was then converted into a high level detention facility to
house enemy troops captured in the War on Terror campaign by Secretary of Defense, Donald
Rumsfield. It has three main camps that house the prisoners. These prisoners of war were later
referred to as enemy combatants. They were excluded from the prisoner of war statutes of the
Geneva Convention because of their involvement in a foreign terrorist organization and therefore
earning themselves the title of terrorists. The Guantanamo Bay Detention Center served as the
perfect location to send these terrorists. It allowed the United States to strip them of any due
process or protection that is provided by US law. Due to its location, being in foreign territory
they are only subjected to military law. They are close enough for them to be monitored without
interference of intentional agencies or international oversight. Furthermore, the US Government
is holding these men without due process because they are deemed too dangerous to be released
into the public because of their associations with terrorist organizations and possession of
valuable information relating to National Security such as location of key members of a terrorist
groups, whereabouts. However, the United States cannot release those who were cleared of any
wrongdoings if they were held over a period of time because of the fear that they will talk to the
press or sympathizers who will in turn use it to their own advantage like recruiting for terrorism.
Treatment of Inmates Guantanamo Bay vs US
In the United States, when a person is arrested, they are given due process according to
US law and go through a series of processes in the Criminal Justice system. When inmates are

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arrested in a foreign country, they go through intentional laws such as those who have been
detained in Afghanistan by US Special Forces. Inmates at Guantanamo Bay are subjected to
intense interrogation methods by military and civilian personnel. Such methods are so heinous
that they are labeled as torture tools by international agencies and laws are passed to prevent
their use.
According to those prior detainees, inmates do not get a chance to meet or talk with a
defense lawyer instead they meet with a military adviser. These military advisers usual work
with the prosecution and do not have any legal training. Their chance in court is often a military
tribunal which consists of the prosecution using little to no evidence to successfully label them as
combatants and using what the inmates told their adviser in confidence against them. “The
inmates are not offered adequate legal representation and most of the time the defense is also
working against them sometimes arguing the case on behalf of the prosecution.” (Cohn, 2011) If
the inmates protest during the trial, they are removed and the trial proceeds without them. They
cannot appeal their cases to anyone and contact from the outside world is completely removed
due to their security status as enemy combatants. The conditions that inmates live in, range from
insufficient to grossly inadequate. They are clear violations of UN Standards on the housing of
POWs under Geneva Convention Article III (Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of
Prisoners, 1933). Their treatment in terms of daily living is just as cruel. Many are not able to
pray because soldiers on base would remove key articles of clothing necessary for pray. Their
cells do not allow natural light to filter through and sometimes inmates are placed in dark cells
for periods of time.
On another note, those arrested in the United States experience protections that are not
guaranteed to detainees overseas. Inmates in the prison system do not face constant harassment

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or torture. Most inmates serve time and are then released back into society. They are given the
right to see their attorney and to file litigation if they feel their rights are being infringed. They
have the right to be safe, silent, and not be tortured for information. They have the right to appeal
their sentences to an appeal’s court and receive defense lawyers. In the federal prison system,
solitary confinement can be labeled as torture according to the United Nations because of the
deliberate isolation. In the book, United States and Torture by Cohn, the author discusses
conditions in a SuperMax facility that can be related to the treatment of offenders at
Guantanamo. Despite their differences, procedures at Guantanamo Bay and federal prison share
some similarities. The similarities are the use of solitary confinement, the removal of inmates
from their cells, also known as cell extraction, and lock downs. The treatment of prisoners in the
United States is generally better than those at Guantanamo Bay Detention Center.
Violations of UN Standards for POWs
Some ways that conditions at Guantanamo Bay violate the Geneva Convention are:
“Young prisoners shall be kept separate from adults.” (Standard Minimum Rules for the
Treatment of Prisoners, 1933) This means that prisoners under eighteen cannot be put alongside
adult prisoners. However, in Guantanamo, this was largely ignored and inmates who were under
eighteen were put alongside adult prisoners. Guantanamo Detention has three camps and one of
those camps can be converted to house inmates under 18 years of age as a possible solution to
this. A second way that resulted in violations was “Corporal punishment, punishment by placing
in a dark cell, and all cruel, inhuman or degrading punishments shall be completely prohibited as
punishments for disciplinary offences.” (Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of
Prisoners, 1933, p. 5) Basically, do not torture the prisoners for any reason but officials at
Guantanamo did not follow this statue. Prisoners were tortured with different methods for

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information or for violating rules put in place by the soldiers as a control mechanism. Prisoners
were subjected to humiliating and painful torture methods to retrieve information or to achieve
complete control of them. The third violation is “Prisoners shall be allowed under necessary
supervision to communicate with their family and reputable friends at regular intervals, both by
correspondence and by receiving visits” (Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of
Prisoners, 1933, p. 6). The conditions at Guantanamo do not allow inmates to communicate with
the outside world under any circumstances for any reason. Most inmates’ families have no idea
where they have been taken and when they do find out the officials deny their existence or
location. The officials deliberately hide the detainees from inspectors of international agencies
such as the International American Red Cross that investigate the treatment of prisoners in
foreign countries. They deny that they have been taken to the locations specified by family
members. They are not allowed visitors and it has become hard for lawyers to be granted access
to them. A fourth violation is the denial of religion. Geneva Convention clearly states that
members of the same religion are to be allowed to practice their religion without disruption and
be provided the appropriate resources to practice said religion. (Standard Minimum Rules for the
Treatment of Prisoners, 1933). There are four sub-articles that address the practice of religion,
which have not been followed by soldiers and civilian contractors that preside over the inmates
under their care. In fact, there are documented cases in which soldiers deliberately removed
articles of clothing and books of worship such as the Quaran. Overall, the United States clearly
does not follow international laws that protect these inmates nor respect them.
Major Arguments

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The three arguments that discuss will prove that their detention is unwarranted and
unnecessary as well as illegal under the Articles of the Geneva Convention. The first argument
that is to be discussed is the legality of holding these inmates without due process or protections.
In both international law and US Law, someone who is arrested must be charged with a
crime and have evidence to be held in a detention facility. However, the United States has done
neither and incarcerated these inmates with little to no evidence that they are accused of. If this
was done in another country with a United States citizen, the United States would do everything
in its power to prevent this from occurring. I have learned that most of these inmates have little
to no known association with terrorist organization. (Cohn, 2011). The articles stated the
interrogators made them falsely confess to being part of a terrorist organization and then used
their own confessions to keep them detained indefinitely. In addition, US soldiers removed
persons suspected of terrorist ties from their country of origin without notifying the country.
Another argument against their detention would be the conditions that the inmates are being
forced to live in. Many inmates are being held in solitary confinement and are subjected to
torture or other coercive methods that violate most of the Geneva Convention articles relating to
the treatment of Prisoners. The United States has stated that prisoners were “unlawful
combatants” and thus not covered under the Geneva Convention Articles concerning to Prisoners
of War.
The Final argument against their detention is the tremendous cost of housing and
providing security for these inmates. Due to the sensitive nature in both the criminal and politics
systems that these inmates have caused, special security features were forced to be put in place.
Many people disagree with the idea of spending resources on housing suspected terrorists
indefinitely and not do anything with them. Most of the information that they have provided are

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unfounded and provided under duress which make the legitimacy of such information
questionable.
Conclusion
Guantanamo Bay Detention Center is a symbol for human rights violations conducted by
the United States. The various research that has been done regarding how useful this detention
center is acquiring information by denying inmates basic human rigts concludes that there is no
correlation between the information provided and its effectiveness in fighting terrorism. The
United States should allow the FBI, who has successfully used empathetic methods, to acquire
information from suspected terrorists only after enough evidence have been gathered to prove
their ties to terrorist organizations. Overall, the detention center must close and the US must
regain our status as a nation that respects human rights, not tread on them.

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Sources
Cohn, M. (2011). The United States and torture: interrogation, incarceration, and abuse.
New York: New York University Press.
Kanstroom, E. (2007). Justifying Torture: Explaining Democratic States' Noncompliance
with International Humanitarian Law. Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal Of Study Abroad,
1451-95.
O'Brien, E. (2004). Torture and the War on Terror. Social Education, 68(7-), 453.
O'Brien, J. L., & Barbieri, K. T. (2012). Desperate Times, Desperate Measures:
Executive Powers, Individual Rights, and Guantanamo Bay Prison. Social Education, 76(5), 261-
262,.
Parrini, M., & Williams, C. F. (2005). Enemy Combatants and the Courts. Social
Education, 69(2), 103-109
Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. (1933, May 13). . Retrieved May
7, 2014, from http://www.unodc.org/pdf/criminal_justice/UN_Standard_Minimum_Rules_for_the_Treatment_of_Prisoners