US anti-terror policies violate human rights: UNHCR

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has described the US government’s anti-terror policies as a gross violation of human rights.

“The United States’ failure to shut down the Guantanamo [prison]… has been an example of the struggle against terrorism failing to uphold human rights, among them the right to a fair trial,” said Pillay on Monday.

Inmates at the US military prison complex in Cuba have been on hunger strike since February. The 166 hunger strikers stopped eating to protest their indefinite detention without charges, as well as intrusive search of their cells and personal belongings.

“Allegedly, more than half of the 166 detainees still being held in detention have been cleared for transfer to either home countries or third countries for resettlement, yet they remain in detention at Guantanamo Bay. Others reportedly have been designated for indefinite detention,” Pillay added.

The high commissioner also criticized the US assassination drone program and its lack of transparency that “has created an accountability vacuum, in which victims have been unable to seek redress.”

The comment came after US President Barack Obama defended the use of the controversial drones as “self-defense.” However, casualty figures clearly indicate that civilians are the main victims.

Pillay went on to condemn many European states of colluding with the US in its so-called ‘war on terror’, namely through the global kidnapping and rendition program.

“I am dismayed by the continuing failure of many European States to undertake public and independent investigations of past involvement in the US renditions program…Credible and independent investigations are a vital first step towards accountability, and I call on States to make this a priority,” Pillay concluded.