A/HRC/22/52 techniques authorized by the Army Field Manual.9 Thereafter, on 16 April 2009 the President authorized the release of a number of legal memoranda from the United States Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), purporting to justify as lawful the CIA use of “waterboarding” and other forms of torture.10 At a White House conference to mark his first 100 days in office President Obama unequivocally confirmed the view of the international community that “waterboarding” amounts to torture.11 18. Despite this clear repudiation of the unlawful actions carried out by the Bush-era CIA, many of the facts remain classified, and no public official has so far been brought to justice in the United States. In August 2007, United States Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the Department of Justice would not prosecute any official who acted in good faith and within the scope of the legal guidance given by the Office of Legal Counsel in connection with the interrogation of terrorist suspects.12 In the view of the Special Rapporteur this comes close to an assertion of the “superior orders” defence, despite its prohibition under customary law13 and relevant international treaties.14 19. Whilst a number of States have made strenuous efforts to keep their involvement in the CIA programme hidden from public scrutiny, a considerable amount of reliable information is now available. Through the dedicated and persistent work of a small number of Parliamentarians15 and non-governmental organizations (NGOs)16 the facts have 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 6 Executive Order 13491, Ensuring Lawful Interrogations, 22 January 2009, available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/EnsuringLawfulInterrogations. In 2005 Harold Koh (later the Legal Adviser to the State Department) described the central OLC memo on torture as “perhaps the most clearly erroneous legal opinion I have ever read”, and as “a stain upon our law and our national reputation”: http://www.law.yale.edu/documents/pdf/KohTestimony.pdf. See http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/30/obama-waterboarding-mistake. United States Justice Department, Statement of Attorney General Eric Holder Regarding a Preliminary Review into the Interrogation of Certain Detainees, 30 June 2011, available at http://www.justice.gov/ag/speeches/2009/ag-speech-0908241.html. As to prohibition in customary law, and its perameters, see Paola Gaeta, “The defence of Superior Orders: The Statute of the International Criminal Court versus customary international law”, European Journal of International Law, Vol. 10 1999; Howard S. Levie, “The rise and fall of an internationally codified denial of the defense of superior orders”, Revue Internationale de Droit Militaire et de Droit de la Guerre, Vo. 31, 1991; Charles Garraway, “Superior Orders and the International Criminal Court: Justice Delivered or Justice Denied”, International Review of the Red Cross, no. 836. Charter of the International Military Tribunals (the Nuremberg Charter), Article 8; Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Article 33; the Convention Against Torture, and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, adopted by General Assembly Resolution 39/46, 10 December 1984 (“UNCAT”), Article 2(3); United Nations Convention on Enforced Disappearances, adopted by the General Assembly Resolution 60/177, 20 December 2006, (“United Nations Convention on Enforced Disappearances”), Article 6(2). European Parliament (“EP”) Resolution on the alleged use of European Countries by the CIA for the transportation and illegal detention of prisoners, 2006/2200 (INI), 26 January 2006; Report of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (“CoE”) Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights concerning alleged secret detentions and unlawful inter-state transfers of detainees involving Council of Europe Member States, Doc. 10957, 12 June 2006, Rapporteur Dick Marty; European Parliament Report on the alleged use of European Countries by the CIA for the transportation and illegal detention of prisoners, 2006/220 (INI), 30 January 2007, Rapporteur Giovani Claudio Fava; ICRC Report on the Treatment of Fourteen “High Value Detainees” in CIA Custody, 14 February 2007; EP Resolution on the alleged use of European Countries by the CIA for the transportation and illegal detention of prisoners, 2006/2200 (INI), 14 February 2007; CoE Report by the Secretary General under Article 52 of the Convention on the question of secret detention and transport of detainees suspected of terrorist acts, SG/Inf (2006) 5, 28 February 2007; CoE Report on secret