We reflect on the 22nd anniversary of Guantanamo, where prisoners of the War on Terror first arrived on January 11, 2002. Since Guantanamo is located in Cuba, the U.S. government initially claimed that neither U.S. law nor international law applied there, a claim that the U.S. Supreme Court rejected. The U.S. government continues to violate domestic and international law at Guantanamo, including the Torture Convention (CAT). Detainees did not have due process rights and some spent twenty years there without charge and without trial. Prisoners also suffered a wide range of torture, including sensory deprivation or bombardment, stress positions, sleep deprivation and desecration of the Koran. According to U.S. government sources, of the 780 Muslim men and boys who have come through the military prison, more than 92 percent could not be tied to terrorism. 

Sadly, countries around the world, especially authoritarian countries such as China and Russia, have routinely made reference to Guantanamo when trying to justify their own human rights violations (in the name of national security). Internationally, the U.S. has lost credibility as a country supposedly bound by law. Terrorist organizations have also used the abuses at Guantanamo to bolster recruitment, which runs counter to the security interests of the United States. 

As of today, 30 prisoners still remain at Guantanamo, even though 16 of them have been cleared for release, many of them years ago. Former prisoners who have been transferred (often to countries other than their countries of origin) have faced considerable challenges. Some of the receiving countries have put them under house arrest or imprisoned and tortured them. In several countries it is not possible to get legal residency, work permits or health insurance. Visits with family are also prohibited. 

Fionnuala Ni Aolain visited the prison complex as a United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms While Countering Terrorism. Her report (including her recommendations on p. 4) can be found here: https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/issues/terrorism/sr/2023-06-26-SR-terrorism-technical-visit-US-guantanamo-detention-facility.pdf

Human rights organizations, faith-based organizations, and NGOs are calling on the Biden administration to close Guantanamo. The letter can be found here: https://www.cvt.org/statements/cvt-and-coalition-partners-call-on-president-biden-to-close-guantanamo-permanently/ 

Amnesty International's current petition is here: https://www.amnestyusa.org/campaigns/close-guantanamo/

The Amnesty 2021 report on Guantanamo is here: https://www.amnestyusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/USA_-Right-the-Wrong_Decision-Time-on-Guantananmo.pdf

The 2022 report by Human Rights Watch is here: https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/01/09/legacy-dark-side

The NYT Guantanamo Docket is here: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/guantanamo-bay-detainees.html

Other organizations working on Guantanamo include:
https://www.closeguantanamo.org/
https://www.cvt.org/
https://ccrjustice.org/home/what-we-do/issues/guantanamo
https://www.peacefultomorrows.org/

WRFI Human Rights Show

Guantanamo 2024

Shannon Gleeson gives an update on immigration policies in the United States after Trump's first 100 days in office in 2025. We examine actions from the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, including the use of the Alien Enemies Act, increased funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and court rulings regarding the removal of people to El Salvador without due process. We also look at the problem from a federal, state, and local perspective. This includes the dismantling of the Refugee Program and the CBP One app for asylum seekers, and raids being conducted at schools, hospitals, and places of worship. Stripping international students of their visas because they participated in demonstrations is a clear violation of first amendment protections. All of these policies impact not only the targeted communities but everyone. The way they were implemented has created intentional chaos. At the same time members of our community continue to stand up and do what they can to educate, advocate, and resist current policies that violate human rights.

Shannon Gleeson May 1_4upload

On the show, we highlight projects in Uganda where clean cooking using renewable solar energy for industrial and residential-sized stoves is resulting in reducing reliance on scarce, expensive, and unhealthy firewood and charcoal biofuels by up to 95%.
The project advances many of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (sdgs.un.org), including good health and well-being, the right to education, gender equality, affordable energy, economic growth and decent work, sustainable cities and communities, taking urgent action on climate change, and building partnerships for peace and security.

Our guests are collaborating on a new build project at the Upper Nile Institute for Advanced Technology (UNIFAT) Primary School in Uganda. The project is funded by Philadelphia, PA based 501©3 Friends of UNIFAT and the Central New York International Rotary Club.
Ithaca, New York/Central New York Rotary District member Gertrude Noden and Ugandan Peter Odida Climate Change Educator are the Project Managers for this international collaboration.
Susan Kiuyi Rose is a physics and mathematics teacher, the Assistant Governor of Rotary Zone 6 Uganda and serves as the Education Officer for the Rotary Club of Soroti Central.
James Bwire is a Public Health Specialist and Researcher, a member of the Environmental Sustainable Rotary Action Group (ESRAG) Clean Cooking Task Force, and President Elect of the  Rotary Club of Busia District 9213.
Khalib Nyende is the Co-Founder and CEO of Vron Engineering with over a decade in the design, fabrication installation and user training of smoke free solar cooking stoves solutions. https://www.vronengineering.com/ 
The UNIFAT School community and youth educational workshops, tree planting and ribbon cutting is scheduled for May 20, 2025.  For more information contact www.wordsintodeeds.org

Uganda Solar Kitchens for Schools_4upload

Paul Ortiz, labor activist and professor, who teaches labor history at the ILR school at Cornell University, talks about the origins of International Workers' Day (aka Labour Day or May Day). Workers from diverse ethnic and ideological backgrounds came together in the 1880s to strike for the eight-hour workday across the country. Corporations and the government cracked down brutally on the labor movement, even executing some of its leaders. The international community established the International Workers' Day in solidarity with the labor movement in the United States.

Paul Ortiz on May Day_4upload

We talk about Trump's executive orders and efforts to change the narrative of who belongs to this country.

Joe Margulies May 23_4upload

Ian Lekus, who is the Policy and Communications Officer at the Council for Global Equality, and the LGBTQI+ Thematic Specialist at Amnesty International USA, talks about the current situation regarding the rights of LGBT+ people in the United States and around the world. We refer to the factsheet "Trapped in Danger" on the perils facing LGBTQ+ refugees recently published by several NGOs, and the report "Defunding Freedom: Impacts of U.S. Foreign Aid  Cuts on LGBTIQ People Worldwide" which was published by Outright International in February 2025. Members of the community are increasingly threatened by individuals as well as governments. Restricting the rights and freedoms of minority groups, for example, due process rights, or freedom of expression and assembly, ultimately undermines democracy in general for everyone. Currently, more than 60 countries worldwide criminalize LGBT+ individuals, their relationships, gender identity/expression, their access to health care, and/or to organize publicly.

For more information visit the following:

https://humanrightsfirst.org/library/trapped-in-danger-trump-administration-policies-endanger-persecuted-lgbtqi-people/

The press release:
https://humanrightsfirst.org/library/new-summary-report-details-how-trump-administration-policies-endanger-lgbtqi-people-at-risk-of-persecution/

Rainbow Railroad's community support teams:
https://www.rainbowrailroad.org/community-support-teams

The Outright report:
https://outrightinternational.org/our-work/human-rights-research/defunding-freedom-impacts-us-foreign-aid-cuts-lgbtiq-people

Pride 2025 with Ian Lekus_4upload

We talk about a range of issues, including Richard Dreyfus, who was posthumously promoted in the French army, after being wrongfully convicted and imprisoned. Upcoming local events are the "No Kings" rally in Ithaca (and around the country), and the local Juneteenth celebration.

Update with Wayles Browne June 13_4upload

Amy Fischer, who directs the Refugee and Migrant Rights campaign at Amnesty International USA talks about current state of affairs, Amnesty's "Human Rights Blueprint for the Border" and the research briefing "Lives in Limbo," based on a research trip to the border in February 2025 In the second half of the show Jim McDonald talks about the briefing "Dehumanized by Design" which is based on an immigrant detention center in El Paso, Texas. Meera Viruru talk about organizing efforts in Chicago for World Refugee Day, which is June 20th.

For more information visit:
https://www.amnestyusa.org/campaigns/human-rights-blueprint-for-the-border/
https://www.amnestyusa.org/reports/lives-in-limbo-devastating-impacts-of-trumps-migration-and-asylum-policies/
https://www.amnestyusa.org/reports/dehumanized-by-design-human-rights-violations-in-el-paso/


Refugee and Migrant Rights_4upload

Magnus Fiskesjö talks about Chinese students studying in the United States who continue to be under surveillance of their own home government, punished if they try to speak against it, and sometimes even forced to spy for it.
This is a huge challenge for American and Western universities when they want to protect academic freedom and human rights on their campus -- including for Chinese students, too.

Magnus Fiskesjo on Chinese students_4upload

Diana Zuckerman, who is a Spanish teacher and interpreter, talks about the upcoming Spanish immersion program being offered at the Omega Institute from July 21-25. She reflects on how language enables us to understand other cultures better, to humanize people, and become more empathetic. Diana is also involved in a Migrant Caravan, that is being organized for early August from Long Island to Buffalo, New York. A long-time activist, she coordinates the local Amnesty International chapter in the Mid-Hudson area.

For more information about the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, visit: https://www.eomega.org/

Guantanamo 2024

WRFIhumanrightsshow

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