UN on GITMO Again

You'd think that they'd have many more pressing things to work on in the human rights commission. For some reason the time and effort to argue about GITMO is more important than the major human rights violators in the world.

The United States should close its jail at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and any secret prisons it may be running, a U.N. panel said Friday.

"The state party should cease to detain any person at Guantanamo Bay and close this detention facility, permit access by the detainees to judicial process or release them as soon as possible," the U.N. Committee Against Torture said in an 11-page report issued in Geneva, Switzerland.

The report concluded that detention of suspects without charges being filed runs counter to established human rights law and that the war on terrorism does not constitute an armed conflict under international law.

Of course we don't expect to hear anything else from the MSM on what the commission is doing. Though I have to give the chairmen some credit for being reasonable and making this statement.

Andreas Mavrommatis, a Cypriot rights expert who chaired the committee's review of the United States, told the AP the report should not be blown out of proportion because overall the United States has "a very good record of human rights."

He told the AP the committee had identified some problems in the U.S.-led war on terror. "We are telling them we hope to have a dialogue, and we trust that they might take the necessary measures to improve."

That's a bit unexpected. Usually all you hear is how bad the US is. At least from a bureaucrat in the UN.

Funny that they don't consider terrorism to fall under the laws of war. If it's not an "Armed Conflict" what exactly is it? I don't see the issue falling under any specific law at this time. Though I shouldn't expect them to actually say where it fits. That would be too convenient.