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Publications
Human Rights First has written a series of reports on
the erosion of civil liberties in the U.S. since 9/11. The reports,
and the dates they cover, are:
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Arbitrary Justice: Trials of Guantánamo and Bagram Detainees in Afghanistan
4/08
The report examines the process by which more than 250 Afghans formerly detained by the United States at Guantánamo and Bagram have been transferred to the Afghan government for prosecution. These detainees are being held for trial at Block D of the Pul-i-Charkhi prison, outside Kabul, which was built by the U.S. government. Based on exclusive trial observations and first-hand interviews with judges, prosecutors, defense lawyers, a former Block D defendant, and family members of detainees in Kabul, the report describes how the detainees are being charged and tried by the Afghan government "based on allegations, but little else, provided by the United States." The report calls on the U.S. and Afghan governments to take steps to ensure that prosecutions of these former U.S. detainees in Afghan courts are legitimate, and puts forward a number of recommendations, including that the United States make relevant witnesses available to assist in criminal prosecutions and that the Afghan government comply with the Afghan criminal procedure code and international fair trial standards, including to require in-court witness testimony and allow the defendant the ability to challenge the evidence.
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Tortured Justice: Using Coerced Evidence to Prosecute Terrorist Suspects
3/08
The report finds that the Bush administration has undercut its own intended use of the military commission system at Guantánamo Bay by allowing the admission of coerced evidence during criminal trials. The report focuses on six Guantánamo prisoners who have alleged abuse while in custody, some of which has been documented by military investigations and detainee interrogation logs, and some of which has been publicly acknowledged by administration officials. It also includes a chart identifying 62 other Guantánamo prisoners who have alleged abuse in custody, alongside the names of those they may have implicated. The report provides a number of recommendations, including that terrorist suspects should be tried by courts-martial or in civilian criminal courts where coerced confessions are inadmissible, and the admission of hearsay evidence is restricted to protect reliability.
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Private Security Contractors at War: Ending the Culture of Impunity
1/08
The report examines patterns of private security contractor operations and the civilian casualties linked to them; the inadequate response of the U.S. government, principally the Department of Justice, to crimes committed by contractors; and the current legal framework governing private security contractors deployed abroad by the United States. Human Rights First concludes that the vigorous enforcement of laws already in force today would provide a solid foundation for prosecuting violent crime involving contractors, but that the federal government needs to provide the necessary resources and properly prioritize law enforcement involving the contractor community in order to end the impunity of private security contractors.
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Leave No Marks: Enhanced Interrogation Techniques and the Risk of Criminality
8/07
The unprecedented analysis by Human Rights First and Physicians for Human Rights combines medical and legal expertise to comprehensively examine ten techniques widely reported to have been authorized for use in the CIA’s secret interrogation program, including sleep deprivation, simulated drowning, stress positions, beating, and induced hypothermia. The report demonstrates the mental and physical consequences of the use of these techniques and their intended design to inflict psychological trauma and pain without leaving physical scars. U.S. law requires an assessment of the physical and mental impact of an interrogation method to determine its legality. The report concludes that each of the ten tactics is likely to violate U.S. laws, including the War Crimes Act, the U.S. Torture Act, and the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005. The report urges the US government to “refrain from repeating the mistake of allowing the euphemistic descriptions of interrogation techniques to blur the line between permissible and impermissible treatment.” It calls on the government to instead adopt the recommendations it sets forth as necessary steps to creating “a single standard of humane treatment.”
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Command’s Responsibility: Detainee Deaths in U.S. Custody in Iraq and Afghanistan
2/06
Provides the first comprehensive accounting of the U.S. government’s handling of the nearly 100 cases of detainees who have died in U.S. custody since 2002. In its report, Human Rights First looked at some of the most troubling abuse cases, including up to 12 cases in which people were tortured to death. The report found that flawed investigations and a lack of punishment, especially at the highest levels, has lead to a culture of impunity on abuse.
Despite the number of deaths of prisoners in U.S. custody, as of February 2006, only 12 detainee deaths have resulted in any kind of punishment for any U.S. official, military or civilian. The report finds that often the more serious the case – particularly those involving people tortured to death – the less severe the punishment; the highest sentence in a torture-related death is five months in prison. Based on this, Human Rights First concluded that a gap exists between policies leadership says it respects on paper, and behavior it actually tolerates in practice.
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Ending Secret Detentions
6/04
Ending Secret Detentions, a June 2004 report by Human Rights First, reveals a global network of secret U.S. detention facilities used to imprison detainees caught up in the war on terror. In the report, Human Rights First calls on the President to end secret detentions and to grant the International Committee for the Red Cross full and immediate access to all individuals in U.S. custody.
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 Assessing
the New Normal
3/03 to 9/03
ASSESSING THE NEW NORMAL, the third in a series of reports, documents
the continuing erosion of basic human rights protections under U.S. law
and policy since September 11.
Praise
for Assessing the New Normal
"Government's post-9/11 challenge is to construct an effective security
apparatus that protects, not imperils, civil liberties. Toward that end,
Assessing the New Normal is a responsible, non-partisan critique
of an executive that has amassed unwarranted power, a Congress that too
often abdicates, and judicial oversight conspicuous by its absence."
—Robert
A. Levy, Senior Fellow in Constitutional Studies, CATO Institute
"The most disturbing thing about the 'new normal' analyzed in the Human
Rights First's comprehensive report is that it will not increase human security
either in the U.S. or internationally."
—Mary
Robinson, former U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights and
the Chair of the Ethical Globalization Initiative
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