E/CN.4/2006/120
page 39
many juveniles remain in Guantánamo Bay. Omar Ahmed Khadr, a Canadian, who was
15 years old at the time of his arrest and his transfer to Guantánamo Bay in 2002, remains in
Guantánamo Bay today. Defence Counsel Questionnaires.
94
Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, article 18. Although the United States has not
ratified the Vienna Convention, it is generally recognized as a restatement of previous law.
95
Constitution of the World Health Organization, preamble setting forth principles accepted by
Contracting Parties.
96
Commission on Human Rights resolution 2005/24, para. 20 (c).
97
Ibid, para. 7.
98
Ibid, para. 5.
99
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 14 (2000),
E/C.12/2000/4, para. 42.
100
Ibid, para. 5.
101
See United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners,
adopted 30 August 1955 by the First United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime
and the Treatment of Offenders, A/CONF/611, annex I, E.S.C. res. 663C, 24 UN ESCOR
Supp. (No. 1) at 11, E/3048 (1957), amended E.S.C. res. 2067, 62 UN ESCOR Supp. (No. 1)
at 35, E/5988 (1977) paras. 9-22.
102
The Special Rapporteur received information from, among other sources, interviews with
former detainees, family members of current detainees and lawyers representing former and
current detainees.
103
US Department of Defense, Joint Task Force 170, Guantánamo Bay, Memorandum for the
Record: ICRC Meeting with MG Miller on 9 October 2003 (indicating ICRC was concerned
about mental health of detainees due to pressures imposed by, among other conditions,
interrogator control over detainees’ basic needs, duration of interrogations, cage-type cells,
isolation, restrictions on books and shaving as punishment); Neil A. Lewis, “Red Cross Finds
Detainee Abuse in Guantánamo” The New York Times (30 November 2004) (reporting ICRC
stated that keeping detainees indefinitely without knowing their fate would lead to mental health
problems); Physicians for Human Rights, Break Them Down: Systematic Use of Psychological
Torture (2005) pp. 52-54.
104
Neil A. Lewis, supra note 103; Physicians for Human Rights, supra note 103; Tipton Report
accessed at http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/reports/report.asp?ObjID=UNuPgz9pc0&Content=577
(2 December 2005); Presentations of Former Detainees, Conference: The Global Struggle
Against Torture: Guantánamo Bay, Bagram and Beyond, hosted by Reprieve and Amnesty
International in London, UK (19-21 November 2005).