AI report on Omar Khadr, child ‘enemy combatant’

Amnistía Internacional publicou a semana pasada un informe sobre Omar Khadr, un dos presos de Guantánamo que foi detido cando aínda era menor de idade. El, concretamente, tiña quince anos cando o detiveron en Afganistán…

O informe leva por título “USA: In whose best interests? Omar Khadr, child ‘enemy combatant’ facing military commission”. Copio un extracto do seu contido:

[...] What the government glosses over is the fact that Omar Khadr spent the final 26 months of his childhood in virtually incommunicado and highly coercive US military detention. His age today should not distract attention from his age at the time he was taken into custody nearly six years ago. To ignore this would give governments carte blanche to hold children in custody until they become adults in order to treat them as adults. That would drain international law of its protections.

The UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice, the UN Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty, and other international standards require that detention pending trial shall be used only as a measure of last resort. All efforts should be found to find alternatives to detention, but if detention is used the highest priority must be given to “the most expeditious processing of such cases to ensure the shortest possible duration of detention”. While in custody, the child shall receive care, protection and all necessary individual assistance – social, educational, vocational, psychological, medical and physical – that they may require. At the same time, whether adult or child, the detainee shall be protected from any torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and the state is prohibited from taking advantage of the detainee’s situation to coerce information from him. [...]