Constitutional Law

Seeking Host Countries for Gitmo Detainees

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has appointed a seasoned diplomat to the new post of Guantanamo Closure Czar. Daniel Fried, previously the Assistant Secretary for Europe and Eurasian Affairs, takes the new post to find homes for up to 60 Guantanamo detainees expected to be released without charges upon the detention center's closure next year.

Fried will be expected to employ his existing relationships with European officials, who are varied in their willingness to accept former Guantanamo detainees. Simon Koschut of the German Council for Foreign Relations says that liberal border regulations within the European Union mean that countries must reach an agreement before accepting the detainees. 

'Any inmate that would come to a European country could travel from one country to another without being controlled by visa regulations,' Koschut said. 'So we have to find a common European position.'

'That's the rub,' according to NPR's Sylvia Poggioli. 'Spain, Portugal, France and Italy are willing to take some detainees. Britain says it has done its part by taking 14. But in Germany, it's an election year and politicians are divided. Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union is reluctant, while the Social Democrats are more flexible.'

Many of the detainees cannot be returned to their native countries for fear that they will be tortured,  executed or both. Among those sensitive diplomatic obstacles are 17 Chinese citizens of the Uighur Muslim minority. Chinese officials, who consider the Uighur detainees 'terrorists,' have repeatedly requested their return. Efforts to find a third-party country to host them have stalled due to threats from Beijing.

Full post as published by ACS Blog on March 13, 2009 (boomark / email).