“General debate on agenda Item 3: promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development"
Statement by: International-Lawyers.Org
24 September 2020
Thank you, President,
International-Lawyers.org and Geneva International Centre for Justice takes this opportunity to highlight that grave and widespread arbitrary detentions hinders the enjoyment of fundamental human rights.
In this regard, we express concern about the detention of asylum seekers and other migrants seeking protection in the United States, especially the conditions of overcrowding and poor hygiene of asylum seekers, who have recognized health vulnerabilities for the sole purpose of ensuring their attendance at immigration hearings. The US needs to adjust its regulations to bring them in line with human rights standards.
Similar conditions are found in Iraq, where hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians are subjected to arbitrary detention. The victims are not informed of the charges against them, nor of the authority carrying out the detention. There is an absence of proper procedures for registering detainees and they are denied access to legal representation. Threats and torture are systematically used to unlawfully extract equivocal confessions, subsequently relied upon in justifying the death penalty.
Detainees suffer from torture, degrading and inhuman treatment. Their whereabouts are often concealed, ensuring that they remain isolated and resulting in enforced disappearances.
Enforced disappearances remain a widespread and systematic problem in Iraq since 2003. Thousands have forcibly disappeared at the hands of the U.S. forces, and subsequently at the hands of the militias that targeted and eradicated entire generations of families under the pretext of combatting terrorism. Impunity has enabled these violations to persist. The Council must take all necessary measures to stop this.
Thank you.
Justice, Human rights, Geneva, geneva4justice, GICJ, Geneva International Centre For Justice
