A/HRC/22/52
States that have so far failed to provide substantive responses to the inquiries made by the
joint mandate-holders to do so without further delay.
45.
In March 2009, the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence began a
comprehensive investigation into the CIA's secret detention and interrogation programme,
chaired by Senator Dianne Feinstein. The Special Rapporteur commends the United States
for establishing an independent parliamentary which has reportedly had unrestricted access
to classified information. On 1 December 2011, Senator Feinstein announced that the
Committee was close to the completion of the comprehensive review, and the report was
approved by the Committee the same month.106
46.
The Special Rapporteur calls on the United States to release the full Senate Select
Committee report as soon as possible, subject only to the specific redaction of such
particulars as are considered by the Select Committee itself to be strictly necessary to
safeguard legitimate national security interests or the physical safety of persons identified
in the report.
47.
On 6 July 2010, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom announced an
independent inquiry by members of the Privy Council (a body made up mainly of senior
serving or retired politicians of distinction and senior judges), under the Chairmanship of
Sir Peter Gibson, a retired judge with experience on national security issues. The Gibson
Inquiry was set up in order to consider whether, and to what extent, the United Kingdom
Government and its security and intelligence agencies were involved in, or aware of, the
improper treatment or rendition of detainees held by other countries in counter terrorism
operations outside the United Kingdom.
48.
The terms of reference for the Gibson Inquiry were published on 6 July 2011 and a
protocol was subsequently issued which governed its procedures. The inquiry lacked the
power to compel the attendance of witnesses or the production of documents. Nor did it
have any power to request the production of evidence from other States, or their personnel.
Moreover, under the protocol established for the inquiry, the final decision as to whether
any document or finding could be released to the public was vested in the Cabinet Secretary
(a senior civil servant). As a result, the detainees, their lawyers and the NGOs who were
supporting them, withdrew their cooperation.107 Thereafter, the Special Rapporteur, acting
together with the Special Rapporteur on torture, engaged the United Kingdom in
correspondence about the powers, terms of reference and protocol for the Gibson Inquiry.108
On 18 January 2012, the Justice Secretary announced there was no prospect of the Gibson
Inquiry being able to start in the foreseeable future and the Government had therefore
decided to terminate it. He indicated, however, that the inquiry would provide an interim
report, which was delivered to the Prime Minister on 27 June 2012. Despite Government
assurances of transparency, the interim report has not so far published and the Government
has given no public explanation for the delay.
49.
The Special Rapporteur calls upon the United Kingdom to publish the interim report
of the Gibson Inquiry without further delay, subject only to such redactions as are
considered by the independent inquiry team itself to be strictly necessary to safeguard
legitimate national security interests or the physical safety of persons identified in the
106
107
108
18
S8130, Congressional Report – Senate, 1 December 2011, p. 52.
Joint letter addressed to the Detainee Inquiry, 3 August 2011. Available from
www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/EUR45/010/2011/en/daf5cd13-dea8-47d2-99d26628b963f511/eur450102011en.pdf.
Joint letter from the Special Rapporteurs to the Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to
the United Nations Office and other International Organisations in Geneva, dated 11 November 2011;
Reply from the Permanent Representative, dated 13 January 2012.
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