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UN Calls On U.S. To Close Secret Jails

July 28, 2006 -- The UN Human Rights Committee today called on the United States to immediately close all secret detention facilities used in the U.S. campaign against terrorism.

The committee said it has "credible and uncontested" information that the United States has detained people "secretly and in secret places for months and years."

The committee said it could not accept the United States' argument that the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights does not apply to anyone held outside U.S. territory.

Responding to the committee, the U.S. State Department reiterated today that the covenant only applies in the national territory of signatories. It said the panel also apparently failed to take into account much of the information the United States had provided.

The committee also said the United States should give representatives from the International Committee of the Red Cross access to anyone held in armed conflicts.

The Human Rights Committee is a body of independent experts that monitors the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and is distinct from the newly established UN Human Rights Council.

(Reuters, AFP)

Copyright (c) 2006. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org