美国在国内国际上实施任意拘押的事实真相

目录

引言

一、任意拘押在国际法上有明确定义

二、美国任意拘押国内移民严重侵犯人权

三、美国在国际上实施任意拘押令人触目惊心

四、美国任意拘押问题泛滥的原因

结束语

引言

免于任意拘押是联合国《世界人权宣言》规定的一项个人基本权利，也是国际人权条约中的重要规定。美国作为《世界人权宣言》重要起草国和最早通过国际人权条约的国家之一，罔顾国内法律规定和国际条约义务，任意实施拘押，对有关人员造成严重身体和精神双重伤害。本报告以事实说明美国在任意拘押问题上的虚伪和双标，反映出美国才是当今世界上对人权践踏最严重的国家。

一、任意拘押在国际法上有明确定义

◆任意拘押是指个人未经正当程序和公平审判的法律保护而被一国政府逮捕和拘留，或者个人在没有任何剥夺自由的法律依据的情况下被拘留，其实质是“非法拘押”。

◆1948年通过的《世界人权宣言》明确指出，“对人类家庭所有成员的固有尊严及其平等的和不移的权利的承认，乃是世界自由、正义与和平的基础”。宣言第九条指出，“任何人不得加以任意逮捕、拘禁或放逐”。在《世界人权宣言》基础上，各国政府纷纷通过包括《消除一切形式种族歧视国际公约》、《禁止酷刑和其他残忍、不人道或有辱人格的待遇或处罚公约》等在内的国际人权条约。1966年通过的《公民及政治权利国际公约》第九条规定，“不得对任何人加以任意逮捕或拘禁，除非按照法律规定的理由和程序，否则任何人不得被剥夺自由”。随着全球人权事业的不断进步，免于任意拘押已是一项个人基本权利和国际人权条约中的重要规定。

二、美国任意拘押国内移民严重侵犯人权

◆美国拘押国内移民严重违反“禁止使用酷刑”规定。《禁止酷刑和其他残忍、不人道或有辱人格的待遇或处罚公约》等人权条约、国际习惯法和世界各国法律都明确禁止使用酷刑。禁止酷刑也被美国法院、国际法庭和国际法委员会等公认为强制性法律规范，专门出台报告防止此类事件发生。但是，美国移民部门违反法律，对被拘押的移民使用酷刑相关案例层出不穷。

◆2018年，美国移民委员会和美国移民律师协会向国土安全部监督机构提交投诉，详细说明国土安全部在美国边境实行家庭分离政策，通过极端胁迫手段，迫使分离家庭放弃合法庇护申请才能得到重新安置，严重违反禁止酷刑和其他虐待行为的规定，对被强行分开的父母与子女造成严重痛苦和折磨。

◆2020年，美国媒体披露，被拘押在佐治亚州欧文县拘留中心的女性经常遭受医疗虐待和恶意忽视，更有许多女性在完全不知情或强烈反抗的情况下，被施行手术剥夺生育能力。联合国酷刑问题特别报告员等各方对此表达严重关切，联合国人权事务相关负责人对此强烈谴责，要求美国根据其条约义务做出解释并采取纠正措施。

◆联合国任意拘留问题工作组明确指出，移民在美国被拘留期间的待遇有辱人格。美国移民局经常将移民安置于当地监狱中，即使部分移民被安置在单独的移民拘留中心，仍遭受各种身体摧残，包括过度拥挤、缺乏足够探视时间、通风不足、饮食差、水供应不足、睡眠环境肮脏、厕所故障、口头和身体虐待等。

◆美国对移民拘押时间没有明确规定，拘押时间长短取决于移民拘押场所和经济因素，有些甚至成为无限期拘押。被拘押的移民由于信息闭塞等种种原因，无法为自己争取正当合法权利。“酷刑受害者中心”（TheCenterforVictimsofTorture）指出，无限期拘押对免疫、心血管系统及中枢神经系统产生破坏性影响，导致受害者出现长期心理健康问题，包括严重焦虑情绪、创伤后应激障碍、社交障碍，甚至抑郁症和自杀倾向。

◆2022年3月，美联社和哥伦比亚广播公司披露，得克萨斯州里奥格兰德河谷地区一处拘押儿童移民的边境拘留所内部杂乱无序、人满为患，感染新冠病毒风险很高。按照美国联邦法律，未成年人在边境拘留所被拘押时间不能超过72小时。但事实上，超过2000名儿童已在该拘留所被拘押超过3天，其中39人超过15天。2022年2月，超过9400名无人陪伴儿童移民遭美国边境执法人员扣留，其中约4000人在边境拘留所被拘押超过72小时。

三、美国在国际上实施任意拘押令人触目惊心

◆英国广播公司（BBC）报道，早在2005年6月，联合国已获悉美国在军舰上秘密拘押恐怖主义嫌疑人。2008年，人权组织“救助”（Reprieve）披露，自克林顿政府以来，美国一直使用“监狱船”关押恐怖主义嫌疑人。2001年至2008年，美国可能使用了多达17艘军舰作为“浮动监狱”。

◆2001年，《华盛顿邮报》披露5名囚犯被拘押在美国“贝里琉”号两栖攻击舰上，其中包括一位名叫约翰·沃克的美国人。《卫报》报道，为了减少刑期，约翰·沃克签署了认罪协议，其中就包括一项“禁言令”，即不准谈论自己在被拘押期间遭受的酷刑。美国国防部发言人表示，军舰上未曾安装任何拘押设施。然而，一名从关塔那摩获释的囚犯向“救助”工作人员表示，一位狱友在来到关塔那摩之前，曾和大约50人一起被关在一艘美国军舰的船底，被殴打得比关塔那摩的囚犯还惨。

◆2014年8月，《大西洋月刊》发表《美国的浮动监狱》一文，披露美国将海军军舰作为海上“浮动监狱”，用以关押和审讯犯罪嫌疑人的事实。被美方认定为袭击美驻利比亚班加西领事馆的嫌疑人艾哈迈德·阿布·哈塔拉被拘押于“纽约”号军舰上，在前往美国途中遭连续审问，之后才被宣布正式逮捕并移交华盛顿地区法院。

◆2017年，《纽约时报》在题为《海岸警卫队的“浮动关塔那摩”》一文中披露，据被关押的囚犯回忆，一同被铐在船上的有20多人且空间十分狭小。他们每天只能获得很少的食物，不得不去偷守卫丢在垃圾桶里的残羹剩饭。船上的卫生条件相当糟糕。有人难以忍受这种生活，甚至哀求守卫一枪打死自己。

◆美国在古巴、阿富汗、伊拉克等国设立为数众多的“黑监狱”，建立了遍布全球的秘密监狱网。2022年初，美国布朗大学沃森国际和公共事务研究所“战争代价”研究报告指出，“9·11”事件后，美国海外“黑监狱”网络运行涉及至少54个国家和地区，拘禁数十万人，包括穆斯林、女性和未成年人等。美国打着所谓“反恐战争”的幌子在多国设立“黑监狱”，秘密拘押所谓恐怖嫌疑人，大搞刑讯逼供，正是美国肆意蹂躏法治和践踏人权的典型例证。

◆2001年，美国决定在关塔那摩湾海军基地设立监狱，用以关押“9·11”恐怖袭击事件后美军在全球反恐行动中抓获的嫌疑人。由于关塔那摩湾主权属于古巴，美国选择此地建立监狱，就能以拘押嫌犯的地区在法律上并非美国领土为由，拒绝给予被拘押人员相应人权，逃避国际社会对美国侵犯人权的指控。

◆2002年1月，第一批20名被拘押者到达关塔那摩监狱，随即被关在户外的铁丝网笼里。此后的20年，关塔那摩监狱一度关押约780人，监狱内任意拘押、酷刑虐囚的丑闻不断曝光。巴基斯坦裔英国人贝格曾在关塔那摩监狱度过2年牢狱生涯，在接受媒体采访时讲述了自己和狱友遭受捆绑审讯、拳打脚踢、水刑等各类酷刑虐待的痛苦经历，表示世界上最恶毒的折磨就是在不知所犯何罪的情况下被关押，没有指控，没有审判，却要为人身自由付出最高代价。

◆2003年3月，巴基斯坦籍囚犯马吉德汗被指控与“基地”组织有关联，在关塔那摩监狱备受折磨。该案件的军事陪审团在审判后手写一封联名信，谴责美国政府的虐囚行为。信中说，在没有指控的情况下将马吉德汗关押9年，并在前4年半里不允许他见律师，这完全漠视宪法所依据的基本理念，侮辱了美国价值观和正义观。马吉德汗遭受的身体和心理虐待远远超出了批准的强化审讯手段。2021年10月，马吉德汗首次公开描述了自己遭受的酷刑，包括反复殴打、水刑、强制灌肠、性侵犯、长期剥夺睡眠等。在遭受水刑时，他的头部被长时间按在水里，几近窒息。

◆位于阿富汗首都喀布尔以北40公里的巴格拉姆监狱一度关押着数千名囚犯。由于美军被曝出在该监狱虐囚，这座监狱被称为“阿富汗的关塔那摩”。2002年12月，两名阿富汗籍囚犯在一周之内相继被美军虐待致死。2012年1月，阿富汗宪法监督委员会公开一份报告，指认巴格拉姆监狱内在押人员遭到殴打、虐待。2012年2月，该监狱发生美军士兵焚烧《古兰经》丑闻。尽管驻阿美军2013年3月正式将巴格拉姆监狱移交给阿富汗政府，但监狱的实际控制者依然是美军。

◆2021年，阿富汗巴格拉姆监狱前囚犯阿卜杜勒·卡迪尔·希杰兰在接受采访时表示，美军对我的虐待和折磨真是一言难尽，他们施加的暴行将困扰我多年。美军士兵毒打、虐待、羞辱我们，让我们痛不欲生。34个人挤在一个大铁笼子里，监狱也不给毯子或垫子。有人为了摆脱美军士兵的非人折磨，选择吞刀片自杀。

◆伊拉克《正义报》记者卡齐姆·阿扎里指出，美军肆意拘捕关押无辜百姓，在伊拉克阿布格里卜监狱和布卡营监狱都发生过虐囚丑闻。大批被非法关押的无辜伊拉克人在身体和精神上都遭到非人折磨。

◆美国海外“黑监狱”频频曝出各种严重侵犯人权的行为，但美国政府却并未真正重视和制止这一现象，反而持续掩盖和否认自己的罪行，没有一名美国官员因制定、授权或实施秘密拘捕和酷刑计划被追究责任。2002年12月，时任美国国防部长唐纳德•拉姆斯菲尔德批准在关塔那摩监狱使用感官剥夺、隔离和使用恶犬等一系列审讯技术。2004年11月30日，《纽约时报》发表美国政府泄露出的一份国际红十字会报告，称关塔那摩监狱中的一些行为等同于严刑拷问，而国际红十字会进入监狱调查的条件是不许透露调查结果。2006年2月16日，联合国公布关塔那摩监狱问题报告，呼吁美国要么对被拘押者进行审判，要么立即将其释放。美国拒绝接受联合国报告中关于关闭该监狱的建议。2021年，8位联合国人权专家和111个非政府组织签署联名信，称美国政府自“9·11”事件后一直从安全威胁的视角看待有色人种群体。关塔那摩监狱持续放大针对穆斯林的偏见和仇恨，加剧了美国社会的种族分裂和对立。

◆“战争代价”研究报告显示，2002年11月，关押在阿富汗巴格拉姆监狱的古尔·拉赫曼因寒冷和遭受酷刑虐待惨死。4个月后，负责审讯的官员却获得中情局嘉奖和2500美元现金奖励，几名参与用刑的工作人员也获得晋升和奖金。2004年，美国媒体披露数百张伊拉克阿布格里卜监狱虐囚照片，但除了涉事美军低级士兵受到军事审判和定罪外，其他美军人员、政府高官和参与其中的私人军事承包商都免于受审。

◆2005年，中情局官员故意销毁92盘包含酷刑直接证据的录像带，美国司法部至今仍然拒绝对涉案人员提出指控。2020年，国际刑事法院首席检察官曾表示，有证据显示近百名阿富汗囚犯在审讯过程中遭到折磨、虐待甚至性侵犯，美军和中情局可能因在阿富汗虐囚而犯下战争罪行，但美国政府却因此对包括国际刑事法院首席检察官在内的多名官员实施经济制裁和入境限制。针对联合国禁止酷刑委员会提出的中情局海外“黑监狱”滥用酷刑问题，美国政府于2021年9月提交的报告表示，基于保密原因，美国无法向其他国家披露涉及中情局活动的被拘押者信息。

四、美国任意拘押问题泛滥的原因

美国在国内和国际上大搞任意拘押、漠视人权由来已久，反映出根深蒂固的种族主义痼疾和暴力主义政治文化。

◆近年来，种族矛盾再次成为美国政治和社会主要矛盾之一。原因一方面在于种族主义自立国以来一直都是美国的痼疾，白人的文化优越感和主体身份使美国各种族间始终存在高度的政治、经济和文化不平等。另一方面，随着全球化进程持续推进和美国国内人口结构重大调整，近年来美国白人，尤其是中下层白人民众对移民和少数族裔不满情绪日益上升，加剧美国国内种族主义问题。

◆随着美国白人至上主义思潮的兴起，美当前种族矛盾愈发尖锐。近年来，美国出现以“黑人的命也是命”为代表的大规模少数族裔抗争运动，边境难民危机频发。基于种族的任意拘押粗暴践踏少数族裔和外来移民基本人权，违背了美国长期宣扬的“人人生而平等”等人权原则，不仅无法解决非法移民问题，反而进一步撕裂美国社会，造成难以愈合的社会创伤。美国的民主和人权并不属于全体美国人，只属于一部分美国人，美国社会的包容与多元并非全无条件，是建立在白人绝对主导基础上的。

◆美国在国内对非法移民的任意拘押和在国际上大量设立各种“黑监狱”、制造任意拘押案件的事实，反映出美国根深蒂固的霸权主义思维、单边主义思想和暴力主义政治文化。只要种族主义的痼疾一天不消除，美国社会就难以真正实现融合、走向平等。只要霸权主义、强权政治的执念不散去，美国在国际上仍会倾向于用暴力手段解决问题，“黑监狱”、任意拘押还将不断出现。

结束语

美国在国内外实施任意拘押的事实与真相，有力地说明了美国在人权领域的虚伪面目和双重标准。美国一方面毫无依据地指责别国任意拘押，另一方面却对本国监狱里司空见惯的酷刑虐待绝口不提，不经审判就将人任意投入美国在全球各地的“黑监狱”，这已成为美国践踏法治、侵犯人权的象征。美方应当正视并反省自身存在的严重侵犯人权问题，彻底摒弃将人权问题政治化的行径，停止侵害别国人民的人权。

The United States’ Arbitrary Detention at Home and Abroad: Truth and Facts

Introduction

I. Arbitrary detention is clearly defined in the international law

II. Arbitrary detention of immigrants in the United States constitutes serious human rights violations

III. Horrible practices of arbitrary detention by the United States around the world

IV. Reasons for the abuse of arbitrary detention by the United States

Conclusion

Introduction

Freedom from arbitrary detention is a fundamental individual right stipulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) of the United Nations, and an important provision in international human rights treaties. Though an important contributor in the drafting of the UDHR and one of the first countries to ratify international human rights treaties, the United States has carried out arbitrary detention in total disregard of its domestic legal provisions and international treaty obligations, causing serious physical and mental harm to people involved. This report is based on facts, and aims to expose the hypocrisy and double standards of the United States on arbitrary detention, and form an understanding that no country is now trampling on human rights more seriously than the United States.

I. Arbitrary detention is clearly defined in international law

◆ Arbitrary detention occurs when an individual is arrested and detained by a government without due process and without the legal protections of a fair trial, or when an individual is detained without any legal basis for deprivation of liberty. Arbitrary detention,in essence, is unlawful detention.

◆ The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), adopted in 1948, clearly states that “recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.” Article 9 states that “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.” On the basis of the UDHR, international human rights treaties including the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (the “Torture Convention”) have been adopted. According to Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966), “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention. No one shall be deprived of his liberty except on such grounds and in accordance with such procedure as are established by law.” With the advancement of the international human rights cause, freedom from arbitrary detention has become a fundamental individual right and an important provision in international human rights treaties.

II. Arbitrary detention of immigrants in the United States constitutes serious human rights violations

◆ The US detention of immigrants at its domestic facilities is a serious violation of the “no use of torture” rule. Human rights treaties such as the “Torture Convention”, customary international law and the laws of different countries all explicitly prohibit the use of torture. The prohibition of torture has also been recognized as a mandatory legal norm by US courts, international tribunals and the International Law Commission, with special reports issued to prevent related incidents. However, numerous cases have shown that the US immigration agencies have violated the law and conducted torture against detained immigrants.

◆ In 2018, the US Immigration Council and the US Immigration Lawyers Association filed a complaint with the oversight agencies of the US Department of Homeland Security, detailing DHS policy of family separation at the US border, and its practices of forcing separated families, through extreme coercive means, to give up their legitimate asylum applications in exchange of resettlement, which has seriously violated the prohibition against torture and other abuses, and caused severe sufferings and torture to parents and children forcibly separated.

◆ In 2020, the US media revealed that women in custody at the Irvine County Detention Center in Georgia often suffered medical abuse and neglect, and that many received hysterectomies without proper informed consent or despite their strong resistance. The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and relevant parties have expressed serious concerns on this issue. The UN human rights authority expressed strong condemnation and demanded that the US make an explanation and take corrective actions in accordance with its treaty obligations.

◆ The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has explicitly recognized the conditions that migrants are subjected to while detained in the US as degrading. ICE regularly places migrants in local jails and prisons. Even when migrants are placed into separate immigration detention centers, they still suffer various kinds of physical abuse, including overcrowding, lack of adequate visitation hours, insufficient ventilation, poor food, inadequate water, unclean quarters, malfunctioning toilets, and verbal and physical abuse.

◆ There is no specific regulations in the US on how long immigrants should be detained, so the length of detention is decided by the place of detention and economic factors. Some even become indefinite. With limited access to information, the detained immigrants are unable to fight for their legitimate rights. The Center for Victims of Torture notes that indefinite detention has damaging effects on the immune, cardiovascular and central nervous systems, and would cause harmful psychological effects including severe and chronic anxiety and dread, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and suicide.

◆ In March 2022, the Associated Press and CBS News exposed a border detention center for unaccompanied children in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas as disorganized and overcrowded, with a high risk of COVID-19 infection. While US federal law requires that minors should not be held in border detention longer than 72 hours, over 2,000 children have been detained in that facility for more than three days, 39 of them over 15 days. In February 2022 alone, more than 9,400 unaccompanied child immigrants were detained by US border law enforcement and some 4,000 of them were held in border custody for more than 72 hours.

III. Horrible practices of arbitrary detention by the United States around the world

◆ According to BBC reports, as early as in June 2005, the United Nations had been informed that the US had secretly detained terrorist suspects on its warships. In 2008, the human rights group Reprieve disclosed that the US had been using “prison boats” to hold terrorist suspects since the Clinton administration. As many as 17 warships may have been used as “floating prisons” by the US  from 2001 to 2008.

◆ In 2001, The Washington Post revealed that five inmates were detained on the US amphibious assault ship Peleliu, including an American named John Walker. To reduce his sentence, Walker signed a plea deal that includes a “gag order” not to talk about his torture in custody, the Guardian reported. A US Department of Defense Spokesman denied any detention measures on its warships. However, a prisoner released from Guantanamo told his probation officer that one of his fellow inmates was closed off in the bottom of a US warship with about 50 others before coming to Guantanamo, and was beaten even more severely than in Guantanamo.

◆ In August 2014, The Atlantic published an article “America’s Floating Prison”, disclosing how the US has been using naval vessels as “floating prisons” at sea to hold and interrogate suspects. Ahmed Abu Khattala, identified by the US as the suspect in the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, was imprisoned aboard the USS New York and questioned by interrogators en route to the US, before he was formally arrested and transferred to the US District Court in Washington.

◆ In 2017, The New York Times revealed in “Coast Guard’s ‘Floating Guantanamo’” that prisoners recalled being shacked aboard with more than 20 people in a very crowded space. They got very little to eat and had to take from the trash their guards’ unfinished meals. The sanitary conditions were quite poor. Some even asked the guard: “just shoot me and kill me, because I cannot take this anymore.”

◆The US has set up numerous “black jails” in countries including Cuba, Afghanistan and Iraq, establishing a global network of secret prisons. A “Cost of War” report published in early 2022 by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University reveals that after the 9/11 attacks, at least 54 countries and regions have participated in the US black sites network, which has detained hundreds of thousands of people, including Muslims, women and minors. Under the excuse of the so-called “War on Terror”, the US has set up black sites in many other countries, covertly detained alleged terrorist suspects, and extracted confessions with torture and other ill-treatment—all of which typical examples of its wanton destruction of the rule of law and violation of human rights.

◆ In 2001, the US set up a prison at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base to hold suspects captured by the US military in its global anti-terrorism operations after the 9/11 attacks. The US chose this location because with the sovereignty of the Guantanamo Bay belonging to Cuba, this place is legally not US territory; therefore the US could deny human rights to the detainees there and evade charges of human rights abuses from the international community.

◆ In January 2002, the first 20 detainees were held outdoors in wire mesh cages immediately upon arrival at Guantanamo Bay. In the 20 years afterward, roughly 780 people have been held at Guantanamo. Scandals of arbitrary detention and torture there continued to come to light. Moazzam Begg, a British Pakistani held there for two years, told the media about the painful experience of torture - hogtying, punching, kicking,and waterboarding - that himself and other detainees had gone through. He said that the most vicious torture in the world is to be detained without knowing what crime has been committed. Without any charge or trial, one’s personal freedom is gravely compromised.

◆ In March 2003, Pakistani prisoner Majid Khan, accused of having links to al-Qaeda, was tortured at Guantanamo. After trial, the military jurors on this case wrote a joint letter condemning the US government’s abuse of prisoners. According to the letter,Majid Khan was held without charges for nine years and was not allowed to see a lawyer for the first four and a half years. This is in complete disregard of the fundamental ideas on which the Constitution is based and an affront to American values and concept of justice. Mr. Khan was subjected to physical and psychological abuse well beyond approved enhanced interrogation techniques. In October 2021, Majid Khan described for the first time in public the torture, which included repeated beatings, waterboarding, forced enemas, sexual assault, and prolonged sleep deprivation. During the waterboarding, his head was dunked in water until he was almost suffocated.

◆ The Bagram prison, located 40 kilometers north of the Afghan capital, Kabul, held thousands of prisoners at one point. The prison has been dubbed Afghanistan’s “Guantanamo Bay” because of revelations of abuse at the facility. In December 2002, two Afghan prisoners were tortured to death by US troops within a week. In January 2012, the Independent Commission for Overseeing the Implementation of the Constitution of Afghanistan made public a report about beatings and other mistreatment of detainees at Bagram prison. In February 2012, there was the Quran burning scandal by US soldiers at Bagram prison. Although the US troops in Afghanistan officially handed over the Bagram prison to the Afghan government in March 2013, the US military remains the actual controller of the prison.

◆ In an interview in 2021, Abdul Qadir Hijran, former Bagram prisoner, said in an interview that “I can’t explain the torture and ill-treatment they applied to me, but the atrocities they committed would haunt me for years. Thirty-four inmates were kept in a cage-like room where they used to live without blankets and mattresses. The detainees were beaten up, tortured and insulted. It was extremely miserable that some detainees had eaten razor to end their lives given the inhuman treatment of the American soldiers.”

◆Qazim Azari, a journalist of the Iraqi newspaper Justice , pointed out that the US military willfully detained innocent people, with torture scandals taking place at Abu Ghraib prison and Bukaa prison in Iraq. A large number of innocent Iraqis illegally detained were subjected to inhuman physical and mental torture.

◆Facing the frequent exposure of serious human rights violations at US “black sites”overseas,the US government, instead of paying real attention to and stop all of this, has continued to cover up and deny its crimes. No US official has been held accountable for developing, authorizing or carrying out covert arrest and torture programs. In December 2002, then US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld approved the use of a range of interrogation techniques at Guantanamo, including sensory deprivation, isolation and the use of vicious dogs. On 30 November 2004, The New York Times published a report by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) leaked by the US government which said that some acts at Guantanamo amounted to torture, and the ICRC’s entry into the prison for investigation is conditional on its findings not being revealed. On 16 February 2006, the United Nations released its report on Guantanamo, calling on the US to either bring the detainees to trial or release them immediately. The US rejected the recommendation made by the UN report to shut down the prison. In 2021, eight UN human rights experts and 111 NGOs signed a joint letter which revealed that the US government had been treating communities of color from the perspective of security threats since 9/11. Guantanamo continues to amplify prejudice and hatred against Muslims, fueling racial division and antagonism in American society.

◆ In November 2002, Gul Rahman, held at Bagram prison in Afghanistan, died of coldness and torture, according to the “Cost of War” project findings. Four months later, the officer in charge of the interrogation was awarded a CIA commendation and US$2,500 in cash awards. Several other staff members involved in the torture were given promotions and bonuses. In 2004, hundreds of prisoner abuse photos at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq were disclosed by the US media. But the US military personnel, senior government officials and private military contractors involved have been spared trial. Only some low-level US soldiers went through military trials and got convicted. 

◆ In 2005, CIA officers intentionally destroyed 92 videotapes containing direct evidence of torture. But the US Department of Justice has so far refused to bring charges against those involved. In 2020, the ICC’s chief prosecutor said there was evidence that nearly 100 Afghan prisoners had been tortured, abused and even sexually assaulted during interrogations, and that the US military and the CIA may have committed war crimes for abusing prisoners in Afghanistan. However, this only made the US government impose economic sanctions and entry restrictions on the ICC chief prosecutor and other officials. In response to the UN Committee Against Torture’s report on the abuse of torture at the CIA’s overseas “black sites”, the US government submitted a report in September 2021 claiming that based on confidentiality, the US cannot disclose information to other countries about detainees involved in the CIA activities.

IV. Reasons for the Abuse of Arbitrary Detention by the United States

The United States has a long history of arbitrary detention and disregard of human rights both at home and abroad, reflecting a deep-seated political culture of racism and violence.

◆In recent years, racial conflicts have once again become one of the principal problems in American politics and society. One reason is that racism has been a chronic problem of the US since its founding. The cultural superiority and dominant position of the white people have led to a high degree of political, economic and cultural inequality among racial groups in the US. Another reason is that globalization and major demographic changes in the US have in recent years caused increasing grudges among the white Americans, the lower-middle class in particular, against immigrants and ethnic minorities, aggravating the problem of racism in the US.

◆The rise of white supremacy in the US has exacerbated racial conflicts. Recent years have witnessed large-scale minority protests represented by the Black Lives Matter Movement and frequent refugee crises in border areas. Race-based arbitrary detention tramples on the basic human rights of ethnic minorities and foreign immigrants and runs counter to the human rights principles long proclaimed by the US, such as “all men are created equal”. It will not help resolve the problem of illegal immigration. Rather, it further tears apart American society, creating social wounds that are difficult to heal. Democracy and human rights in the US are not enjoyed by all, but only by some. Tolerance and pluralism of American society are conditioned on the absolute dominance of the white people.

◆The fact that the US has arbitrarily detained illegal immigrants at home and set up a large number of “black sites” abroad to create cases of arbitrary detention reflects its deep-seated hegemonic and unilateralist thinking and violent political culture. As long as the embedded racism remains, there will be no true integration and equality in the American society. As long as hegemonism and power politics persist, the US will keep resorting to violent means in resolving issues across the world, and the “black sites” and arbitrary detention will continue to exist.

Conclusion

The fact that the United States has carried out arbitrary detention at home and abroad has laid bare its hypocrisy and double standards with regard to human rights. The US groundlessly accuses others of arbitrary detention, while at the same time, however, does not mention a word about the torture and maltreatment common at its own prisons. Arbitrarily throwing people into its “black sites” around the world without trial has become a hallmark of the US trampling on the rule of law and infringing on human rights. The US should face up to and reflect upon its own serious human rights violations,stop politicizing human rights issues, and stop undermining the human rights of people of other countries.