ACLU 'shocked' US defying UN torture committee's recommendations

A civil liberties and human rights group says the US has failed to correct policies that violate international conventions on torture and cruel treatment, and it accuses the US of continuing to violate international treaties.
“With the debate over waterboarding front and center, it is shocking to see the U.S. government continue to defend its shameful record of sanctioning secret and indefinite detention and its lack of accountability for torture and abuse,” said Jamil Dakwar, Advocacy Director of the ACLU Human Rights Program. “The torture committee attempted to give the U.S. government a chance to correct its wrongs, but unfortunately the Bush administration responded with nothing more than empty gestures and hollow words.”
Responding to concerns from the United Nations' Committee Against Torture, the US government questioned the authority of the UN's Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and its applicability against US forces operating during wartime.
The US resists attempts to document all of the prisoners in its custody, and flat-out refuses to shut down the controversial prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, or grant habeas corpus rights to its detainees. The government's defense insisted detainees get access to a "judicial process," which reviews whether a detainee was properly classified as an enemy combatant but does not have to level specific charges to justify the detention.
The UN demanded an end to interrogation techniques including "sexual humiliation, 'waterboarding,' 'short shackling' and using dogs to induce fear." The US repeatedly insists that "torture" is a violation of US law, but it does not renounce the listed techniques. News reports have indicated that US interrogators have engaged in those practices.
A copy of the 13-page document can be downloaded here.

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