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Politics : Foreign Policy Discussion Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: kumar who wrote (5002)	3/5/2003 12:02:37 PM
From: zonder	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15987

Geneva convention does not make a difference about where the prisoners are detained, though. Numerous legal organisations around the world have said as much. Bush et al can confuse the public with these invented terms like "illegal combatants", keeping people off Cuba, etc but they are not confusing the legal issue one bit. "The decision by president Bush to apply the Third Geneva Convention to the conflict in Afghanistan but deny prisoner of war status to Guantanamo Bay detainees is incorrect in law," it [International Committee of Jurists] said in a statement. "President Bush has said this convention is applicable. That application cannot be selective or partial," ICJ said highlighting the contents of a letter sent to US Secretary of State Colin Powell. It echoed the ICRC in stating that the convention "required" the conferral of prisoner of war status unless a "competent tribunal" decides otherwise. "Only a US court, and not the administration, has the legal authority to make such a determination," it added. The letter stated that the ICJ "does not understand the attitude taken by the US government" in relation to the Guantanamo detainees, but added it hoped "such attitude will be duly corrected". The ICJ said captured Taliban fighters were entitled to POW status as members of armed forces, irrespective of non-recognition of the Taliban authorities as the legitimate government of Afghanistan. "That same status may or may not be extended to Al Qaeda fighters but must be determined by a competent tribunal," it added. dawn.com